


Late Supper

by SamCyberCat



Series: Zombie Diet [9]
Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombies, F/F, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-06
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2019-07-07 16:58:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 17
Words: 52,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15912471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamCyberCat/pseuds/SamCyberCat
Summary: Sousuke and the others are forced to evacuate their home as the cure gains more ground. The only place they can turn to is Iwatobi, even if it means begrudgingly joining a revolution that Sousuke wants no part of.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here we are! The beginning of what may well be the final story in the Trail Mix series. I hope you'll all stick with me for this last ride, as I make poor Sousuke and the others suffer one more time. This fic picks up exactly where we left off the last time we saw Sousuke – with him watching as the sudden appearance of the cure causing Haru and Chiyo to fall to their knees in pain.

In an instant, Sousuke knew that the cottage was no longer safe. Their time living there had come to an end. He didn't know where it was coming from, but the fact that Haru and Chiyo were doubled over in pain meant that the cure was here.

They had to leave.

“Chiyo! Do you think you can carry Haru?” Sousuke asked.

A laboured nod from Chiyo. He was in pain as well, but from what Sousuke had been told, Chiyo could deal with the noise frequency of the cure much better than Haru could. Poor Haru was already a crumpled mess, leaning against Chiyo for support. It pained Sousuke to see Haru looking so helpless...

“I'll go with them!” Kisumi called, “You two grab supplies from the cottage.”

Without a moment's hesitation, everyone sprang into action. Kisumi headed over to Haru and helped him into Chiyo's huge arms, it was a good thing that guy was a giant. The three of them began to head away from the cottage, towards the road, but their pace was slow due to the pain Chiyo was in, so Sousuke knew that him and Makoto would catch up quickly after they were finished in the cottage.

The two of them hurried back inside, grabbing everything they thought needed and stuffing it all into baackpacks waiting at the side of the door. Sousuke cursed that they didn't have more time. Over the last year that they'd been living at the cottage, they'd built up a decent stock of supplies, only to have to leave most of it behind. If anyone found this cottage after they'd left, that person would hit the jackpot. All Sousuke could hope was that they'd leave his parents' graves alone...

“That's all we can fit in the bags, let's go!” Makoto said, after struggling to fasten the last of the backpacks. He shoved it under his arm, with another backpack under his other arm and a third across his back.

The two of them left the cottage with as much as they could carry, Makoto more so than Sousuke, because as much as Sousuke hated to admit it, his shoulder meant that loading himself down was too much of a risk.

As they headed outside, Sousuke looked back at the cottage for one final time. There was a chance that they could take out the machine emitting the cure and come back here, but the compound would only bring more machines if they were developing in this area. In the pit of his stomach, Sousuke just knew that this would be the last time he saw this cottage. The place had served them well, but Gou always warned Sousuke not to get sentimental. After all, Gou and Chiyo had both left their homes in the blink of an eye to help Sousuke and the others.

It took only a few minutes to catch up with the rest of the group. Haru was letting out short, sharp gasps, while Chiyo was struggling to hold back his own cries, so not to draw attention to them. Kisumi's hand was resting on Chiyo's back for support, but he was shaking all over. When Sousuke and Makoto approached, Kisumi turned to them.

“They're getting worse the closer we get to the road,” said Kisumi, “I think the cure is up there... Isn't there any safer route that we can use?”

“There might be, but the road is our best bet,” Sousuke replied, “Wait here with them. We'll go on ahead and see if we can't clear it out.”

Sousuke and Makoto both dropped the bags they were carrying so they could move faster. The only thing Makoto took with him was a trusty shotgun and a length of rope, while Sousuke made do with a handgun, though he put an axe from the cottage in his belt, because Sousuke could never fully abandon the axe, even if he did begrudgingly agree with Gou that the handgun was a more practical weapon. Now that the two of them were armed, they sprinted off towards the road up the hill. They were no spring chickens any more, but in times of crisis, Sousuke found that his body granted him the burst of energy that he needed to help the others.

Before they'd even reached the road, they heard voices. They heard hammering, too. There was construction going on. The two of the crouched low, listening as they approached.

“This is so pointless. There's no zombies this far out in the mountains. Why are they wasting resources by having us setup cures out here?”

“To make a point, obviously. We're close to Iwatobi now. The more ground we can take off the raiders, the less powerful they'll be. We'll have them trapped like rats. I bet that's what the council's thinking, anyway.”

There was a pause, before the first speaker replied in a worried tone; “...Do you think there's raiders out here? If we're that close to Iwatobi?”

“Idiot! There's no one out there except us.”

On those famous last words, Sousuke and Makoto struck. They didn't set out to kill, but they also wouldn't rule that out as an option. The compound guards had proven time and time again to be merciless, so they couldn't risk taking too many chances with them. The two of them sprang out from where they were hiding and each grabbed one of the guards, who were both completely unprepared for assault. The guards didn't even have weapons on them. That made this easier.

Sousuke pinned one of them to the ground, while Makoto managed to wrestle the other up against the machine they were setting up on the other side of the road. Although Sousuke had never seen one of the cure machines in person, he knew right away that this was it. The machine looked crudely constructed, as if many of them had been produced in a hurry. If they destroyed this one, then the compound would replace it soon enough. All that mattered to the compound was that it rendered the zombies helpless. And apparently scared the raiders, if these guards were to be believed.

“What're you doing here!” Sousuke roared into the ear of the guard he had pinned to the road. Although it was mostly for show, since they'd already heard what they needed to know from when they were eavesdropping.

“Please don't hurt us! We're doing our jobs!” the guard wailed, “The cure clears out zombies – isn't that what everyone wants?”

“Yeah, it clears them out so you can steal the land from the raiders,” Sousuke hissed.

“It never belonged to you in the first place!” said the guard, “Most of you just stole what you 'own' after the infection broke out. There are people living in the compound who want their homes back. We're making Japan safe for those people again!”

It was a moral debate that Sousuke wasn't prepared to take part in. He didn't particularly side with the raiders any more than he did the compound. But the difference was that the compound was actively trying to kill two of his friends. And their council knew that reformed zombies like Haru and Chiyo were out there, getting murdered by the cure along with the rest.

“Dismantle the machine and leave us in peace...” Sousuke warned.

“They'll only bring more,” the guard pointed out.

“Then we'll dismantle it for them,” Sousuke decided, “Makoto, can you help me tie these two up?”

“All ready on it, Dear,” Makoto hummed, in mild amusement.

When Sousuke looked over, he realised that in the time he'd been having a yelling match with his guard, Makoto had tied the other to the machine. The second guard was too petrified to speak, so therefore probably the more sensible of the two.

“Right... I'll bring this one over as well,” Sousuke mumbled.

It took only a few minutes to tie the other guard to the machine as well. But every minute wasted was another minute that Haru and Chiyo were suffering. They had to turn off the machine now, even if the compound would bring more of them later.

“If only Hayato was still here... I bet he'd know how to shut this off,” Makoto said, as they forced open a panel and realised they had no idea what they were doing.

Sousuke grunted. He didn't need to be some genius scientist to know how to break technology. He held his axe up high, much to the protest of the guards, before driving it down into the open panel of the machine. Wires and circuit boards snapped, but that wasn't good enough for Sousuke. He whacked the axe at the machine again and again, until bits of it started flying away and it began smoking dangerously. When he stood back, Sousuke felt a slight sense of smug pride at the way Makoto was looking at him in awe.

“Reckon that did the trick,” Sousuke announced.

“I'll go check on the others to make sure,” said Makoto, snapping back to his senses, “But what do we do then?”

Sousuke nodded towards the compound van; “Reckon we've got our getaway right here. From what these two were saying, it sounds like the cure hasn't reached Iwatobi yet, so we go there for now.”

“You can't do that! You can't just leave us out here!” cried the noisier of the two guards.

“Eh, you said that the compound would just bring more cures if this one failed. They'll come pick you up,” Sousuke dismissed.

With the decision made, Makoto headed back down the hill to get the others, while Sousuke kept an eye on the two guards. He also used this opportunity to question them, drawing himself up to his full height and towering over them with his arms folded. It was clear who was in charge right now.

“So what's going on in Iwatobi?” he asked, “You were talking about the raiders gathering there.”

It had to be to do with the poster that Gou had found when they'd gone to Sano earlier today, before she'd split off from them to check it out for herself. Iwatobi was the place everyone was travelling to, but the poster made it sound like some crazy cultist was at the centre of it all...

“How can you live around here and not know?” scoffed the guard, “Aren't you a raider as well?”

“Maybe I like to keep my head down. Now answer the question,” Sousuke replied.

“Th-they're trying to start a revolution... But there won't be enough of them,” said the guard, “Even if all the raiders in Japan gather in one place, they won't be able to stop the cure. It's time you guys admitted defeat!”

“Maybe some people don't like to go down without a fight,” Sousuke said, “Now, tell me who's in charge of this revolution.”

He wanted to know if they were friend or foe. But before he could get an answer, the guard who'd been quiet this whole time suddenly started freaking out.

“They've got zombies! Look! Not just any zombies, but the zombies! The ones they tell you about!” the guard panicked.

“So you guys must be the escapees... The only people ever to get away from the compound...” mumbled the first guard. Apparently Sousuke and the others were celebrities now.

“That's us,” answered Sousuke, “So you'll understand that we're experts at running from danger. Not about to stop now.”

With that, he headed over to the others to help them up the hill, ignoring the continued protests from the guards. Haru was walking now, which meant that Sousuke had succeeded in deactivating the machine. Though Haru's steps were still shaky and he looked as drained as if he'd just swam twenty laps, possibly more.

“...L-let'sss... juuusst g-g-get... out offf... heeerrree...” Haru pleaded, as Kisumi helped him onto the road.

“Couldn't agree more,” said Sousuke, “Everyone, into the van.”

It was a snug fit. Four out of five of their group were much taller than most people, with Makoto, Sousuke and Chiyo being broad enough to match. But thankfully, without the cure machine inside of it, the back of the van had more space. Kisumi and the two zombies got in the back without question, while Makoto and Sousuke went up front.

Sousuke started the engine and then they were off towards Iwatobi. He watched the two guards in the rear view mirror until the van rounded a corner and they were out of sight. He let out a deep sigh.

“They told me that there's some sort of revolution gathering in Iwatobi, but I didn't get who was behind it all,” he said, “Maybe we should've stayed and questioned them some more.”

“The longer we'd stayed, the most risk there was that backup would arrive to help them,” said Makoto, “We got out of there with as much of our stuff as we could carry. That's what matters.” He patted one of the bags on his lap for emphasis. They had their supplies, that was good.

“But is going to Iwatobi a good idea?” Kisumi asked, leaning over the seat, “We have no idea if the people starting this revolution will be any more friendly than the compound...”

“You're right there, but it's worth checking out,” said Sousuke “Besides, Gou was heading that way, so we need to look for her. If it all goes to shit, then we've got this van. Hopefully we can get away before too much harm comes to any of us.”

“...H-hope...fuuullyyy...” Haru echoed.

That was another matter. Even if the raiders at Iwatobi would take them in, having two zombies with them was hardly a selling point. Of course they'd never abandon Haru and Chiyo, but it was hard to make people believe that these zombies were 'good zombies' after most people had spent years watching zombies eat their loved ones.

Besides, there was another problem with bringing Haru and it had only just dawned on Sousuke now.

“Hey, so... I know I had my issues with Hayato, but the kid did tend to know what he was talking about. Didn't he say that reformed zombies revert back if they're around the place they were infected?” Sousuke checked. In Haru's case, that was Iwatobi; “...Are you gonna be okay?”

“...The z-zombiiess in... th-thossseee plaaac-ees... make usss w-worsssee...” Haru confirmed, “...Essspeciallyyy... thosee who in-infeecteed us... But I b-belieeeve I'll m-managee... If Ch-chiyooo can le-earnnn to be... aroound me... Th-then I c-caaan l-learn the s-samee of Iwaatobiii...”

Kisumi moved from learning against the back of the front seats and instead sat close to Haru, putting his arms around him.

“I hope you're right...” he said, “If not, then we can't stay in Iwatobi. I won't see you suffer.”

“We might not be staying there anyway, depending on how this goes,” Sousuke pointed out, “I don't fancy getting involved with a cult.”

So far, not picking sides had worked out best for them. When they'd committed to going with the compound it had been nothing but trouble and some of the raiders were just as hostile. Sousuke preferred to keep his head down as much as possible. But then... if the cure was in use almost everywhere, it meant that they were running out of places to escape to. How long could they avoid getting involved until they had no choice?

“...If I... b-beecoomeee daaangerous... d-do wh-what you need... to doo...” Haru said, snapping Sousuke out of his thoughts.

“I hate that... I don't want to put Haru through this,” Makoto said.

“We'll know if he'll manage before we get into Iwatobi anyway,” assured Sousuke, “Remember that time when we were flying over it in the helicopter? Haru started changing back to being zombie-like before we'd even got close.”

“That's true... I just hope that he's going to be okay,” Makoto sighed.

For the rest of the drive there was a very sombre atmosphere in the van. Although sombre was probably the wrong word, Sousuke reckoned, more like cautious. They had only a vague idea what was waiting for them and there were so many ways that this could go very wrong. If it did, then they couldn't flee back to the cottage this time – that refuge was gone. They'd have to find somewhere else. But... they'd cross that bridge if they came to it. For now, they were taking a chance on Iwatobi.

It had been late in the day when they'd set out anyway, having spent most of the afternoon burying Sousuke's father next to his mother. He tried not to think too hard about that. This morning, Sousuke had gone on a very personal quest to reunite his parents in death, and now that evening was rolling in, they were all on the run once more. The pale sky had turned to orange and soon it would set into night.

The closer they got to Iwatobi, the more people they saw. Almost as if the place was being guarded by raiders. Sousuke kept expecting that their van would be stopped, but whenever he caught someone's eye, they just gave him a friendly nod. The raiders thought that Sousuke and Makoto were one of them. They probably wouldn't feel that way if they saw what was in the back.

Speaking of what was in the back, Haru seemed to be holding up okay. They all kept an ear out and for a moment, Haru looked as if he was going to start pacing, but then Chiyo put a hand on his shoulder and it seemed to bring him back to his senses. Sousuke didn't envy what those two had to go through as zombies, but at least they were managing.

“So far so good...” Makoto whispered, keeping his voice low, even if no one could hear them from inside the van.

They got all the way up to the gate before they were stopped. A gate. In Iwatobi. That hadn't been there the last time they'd passed over this place. In fact, the little they could see of the town already looked a lot different. There was a tall fence built around as much of the town that they could see, presumably cutting off at the ocean on either side. And the gate was even taller than the rest of the fence. It was also guarded and they clearly wouldn't get through without being searched. Haru and Chiyo would be found.

“Get ready for trouble,” Sousuke said. If he had to, then he'd spin this van around and floor it.

But before the guards could reach them, the gate was opened and a familiar person hurried out. Her red hair danced about behind her as she ran towards the van.

“It's Gou!” Makoto gasped.

If Gou was here and not being held against her will, then that was promising. Sousuke's guard dropped a little as she reached them, but not enough to be stupid. Gou could still have been set up to this, after all.

Makoto opened the passenger side door and Gou dived in, hugging him tightly despite the three backpacks on his lap.

“I can't believe you're all here! We were going to set out to fetch you tomorrow,” she said, before looking into the back of the van, “Even Haru and Chiyo are here, that's great!”

“We're glad to see you all right,” said Makoto, “We were so worried about you when you headed off this morning.”

“I'm sorry about that,” Gou replied, “But I had to find out what was going on and you guys needed to get Mr. Yamazaki's body back to the cottage. How did... that go, by the way?”

“We buried him and they're at peace now,” answered Sousuke, “But then some guards set up a cure machine, so we had no choice but to leave.”

“So they're gaining ground...” Gou mumbled.

It sounded worryingly like she was part of the revolution now. And she couldn't have been here more than a few hours. Sousuke didn't like that.

“Do you trust these guys then?” he asked, nodding towards the gate.

Gou pulled a face; “Trust is a strong word. You'll see what I mean when you get inside. But I think they're our best bet now.”

“And will they take our zombies?” said Sousuke, “If not, then I'm turning this van around.”

“You know, I think that they will,” hummed Gou, pretending to think about it with an air of knowing that made Sousuke uneasy, “They're pretty zombie-friendly in here. But if you want to be absolutely certain, you can ask His Highness's second-in-command. Here he comes now.”

Sousuke looked towards the gate again, where another person was hurrying out after Gou, but not nearly keeping up with her. He realised that he knew this person as well. And maybe in another situation he might be glad to see him, but right now seeing this guy made it dawn on him exactly who was behind this revolution. A crazy cultist who thinks he's the next Jesus? ...Sousuke should've guessed all along.

“You're Dai...suke?” Sousuke said, as the guy drew level with them.

“Daichi, but it's fine,” the guy replied.

Sousuke felt a bit guilty. This guy had technically saved their lives on two different occasions. Without him, they'd have never escaped from the compound and then again from the lab in Tokyo. Yet even so, Sousuke hardly knew Daichi and he hadn't left much of an impression. Daichi seemed to be an unassuming guy with a misguided loyalty towards Hayato. He was quite chubby, but Sousuke didn't think he had many defining features outside of that.

But it wasn't Daichi who Sousuke was worried about. It was the implication behind him being here. Sousuke lent on the wheel of the van. Morbid curiosity was the only thing stopping him from driving away right now. They had Gou in the van with them, so the only people they'd be leaving behind would be Daichi and Hayato. And Hayato's fucking cult of raiders...

“He's behind this then?” Sousuke asked, looking Daichi dead in the eyes.

Daichi paled under Sousuke's glare; “Y-yeah... he is. We were going to come get you soon, but Hayato wanted the place to be safer before we did. He can't guarantee that right now.”

“Like he can guarantee anything with Japan being like it is now,” Sousuke grumbled, “Do the people following him know that it's his fault the cure's pushed them out of their homes to start with?”

“Maybe don't say that so loud...” Gou whispered.

“Hah. Thought so,” Sousuke snorted, “But whatever. I know that Kisumi will want to see his brother, so consider this a family visit. Take us to him, second-in-command.”

And if Sousuke wasn't happy with what he found, there would be a reckoning.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sousuke and the others are brought before the king of this grand revolution. For some of them, this is a happier reunion than it is for others.

Sousuke slowly drove the van through the gate, which was closed behind them by the guards outside. They were in Iwatobi now, no going back. Since the van was cramped enough as it was, Gou and Daichi went ahead on foot, but it didn't look as if Sousuke would be using the van for much longer regardless. Gou waved them over to what was once the parking lot of a convenience store on the edge of town, but now contained several repurposed compound vehicles. Sousuke nodded to her and drove through to park up. He noted that even inside Iwatobi, there were raiders patrolling the streets...

“Who'd have thought we'd be surrounded by guards who are on our side for once,” Makoto said, quietly.

“We don't know if they're on our side yet,” Sousuke insisted.

“But I hope they are... This is Hayato, after all. He might've made a lot of sketchy choices in the past, but I want to believe that we can trust him,” said Makoto, “Right, Kisumi?”

They both looked into the back of the van, since Kisumi had been oddly quiet while they'd driven inside. What they saw was Kisumi and Chiyo both surrounding Haru, whose breathing was laboured. Shit...! Haru had said he was all right before, but with everything that was going on, Sousuke hadn't properly checked on him to make sure that he was.

“Haru...?” Makoto gasped.

“...F-fine... I'm fiine...” Haru panted, “...J-juuuust n-need a min...ute...”

“He's doing better than he was the last time we came to Iwatobi,” Kisumi said, with a hint of desperation in his voice, like he wanted to believe what he was saying was true, “We just have to hope he can keep it up. But if he can't... then we'll have to go. Hayato will understand...”

Before Sousuke could even nod in agreement, Chiyo lifted up one of his huge hands and pointed out of the van. They all looked where he was pointing and Sousuke recognised the direction as being towards where Makoto and Haru used to live before the outbreak.

“...Th-they'ree... theerree...” Chiyo said, “...The z-zom-bieesss... All of th-theeem...”

“So Hayato's had the raiders round them up,” Sousuke grumbled, “In that case, the further we are away from there, the better. It's not like we came here for sightseeing anyway.”

There was a tap on the window. While they'd been talking, Gou and Daichi had come across to check on them.

“Is everything okay?” Gou asked.

“Haru's struggling, we need to keep him away from the zombies,” said Sousuke.

“We can do that,” Daichi assured him, “They're fenced off in an area near the coast. We're going to the old school building in the other direction.”

“You mean... Iwatobi High?” Makoto asked.

“Yeah, you should see what he's done to the place,” said Gou, rolling her eyes, “It was probably the best building to use for headquarters, but it still feels like a tactless choice.”

Although Gou was the last person who needed to tell them that sentimentality would get them nowhere. If the high school was the building that Hayato had used to set up camp, then they'd just have to deal with it. At least it meant they'd be further away from the zombies.

Now that they knew where they were going, Sousuke and the others got out of the van. The back door was opened and Chiyo helped Haru out, but Haru insisted that he could walk on his own. If Haru was wilful, then that was probably a good sign. As they walked towards the school, Haru's pace wasn't nearly as quick as usual, but he did seem to get better the further away he got from the zombies.

When they reached the entrance, Makoto tensed up. Sousuke reached across to put a hand on top of his and nodded to him. They'd be prepared. No matter what was going to happen, they wouldn't be caught unaware.

Their footsteps echoed through the halls of the school once they got inside. In some of the rooms they passed, they could hear conversations from unseen raiders, but their own group was silent. Even Gou and Daichi weren't talking as they walked ahead of them. Sousuke observed their body language – Gou was taking confident strides, clearly she was unconcerned about them meeting with Hayato, but Daichi's movements were more nervous. On one hand, Sousuke didn't know him well enough to judge; perhaps he was just a nervous person. But on the other hand, Daichi had dropped everything to protect them at Tokyo - he'd tackled that scientist boy alone and then on the roof of the lab, Daichi would've shot Christine Whittle if he hadn't been called off. That didn't sound like something a nervous person would do. So what was making him nervous right now?

They reached what had once been an assembly hall and Sousuke just knew that was where Hayato would be. Sure enough, at the other end of the room, up on the stage, a series of computers had been setup, whirring noisily in defiance to most of the world being without electricity. In front of them sat a familiar tall and wispy figure. Hayato turned his swivel-chair to face them as soon as he heard their footsteps, getting up from his seat and taking several steps forward, but not getting down from the stage.

“You're all here...” Hayato said.

“Hayato! Thank goodness!” Kisumi cried.

With that, Kisumi broke away from Chiyo and Haru, racing across the hall. He climbed up onto the stage and dived on Hayato, hugging him tightly and swinging him around. Even someone who was as hardened as Sousuke couldn't help but smile at that. No matter what else was happening here, Kisumi and Hayato were brothers. And until today, none of them had any idea what had become of Hayato over the last year. Makoto let go of Sousuke's hand and Sousuke could swear he saw him wipe a tear from his eye.

When Kisumi broke away from the hug, there were definitely tears in his eyes. The others had reached the edge of the stage to join him by then.

“I'm so glad to see you,” said Hayato, “We were going to come get you, but... I wanted to wait until everything was ready. And I didn't know how Haru would take to the Iwatobi zombies.”

Hayato glanced over at Haru, but all he got was a nod. Like Sousuke, Haru treated Hayato with a vague sense of caution, but it must've been more awkward for Haru, seeing as Haru was Kisumi's partner.

Yet Haru wasn't the only zombie who caught Hayato's attention.

“Chiyo...” Hayato gasped, “You're here as well? You're a reformed zombie!”

“...G-got... luckyyy...” grunted Chiyo.

“We went out to find him after you left us,” Kisumi explained, “Haru knew that Chiyo had synaesthesia, so there was a chance that he might've ended up like him. Chiyo's our friend, we owed too much to him to just leave him out there. And look, he can be around Haru just fine now.”

Hayato nodded; “That's... that's good. It's definite proof that a reformed zombie can learn to manage around the ones who infected them. That means that Haru could stay here.”

“If we choose to stay here,” Sousuke cut in.

“I think that... you might not have many other options,” said Hayato.

But before Sousuke could get into an argument with him over that, Kisumi lifted up Hayato's hand and let out a joyful shriek. He bounced on the balls of his feet, seemingly oblivious to everyone watching him. Hayato's cheeks coloured slightly, as if he knew what Kisumi was about to say before he even said it.

“Congratulations!” Kisumi cried, “Everyone, look at this! Look at what my little brother's got!”

He tugged Hayato's hand forward for them all to see, almost dragging the rest of Hayato along with it. They all pressed in to get a better look and that was when Sousuke saw of a glimmer of gold on one of Hayato's fingers.

“A ring?” Sousuke asked.

“Yes! An engagement ring!” Kisumi clarified, “My Hayato's going to get married! Can you believe it?”

“W-well... we're not sure exactly when or how it's going to happen... but yeah,” Hayato said. He much more embarrassed than Kisumi was about this; “Daichi proposed a-and he's the one I want to be with...”

“Where is he?” asked Kisumi. He let go of Hayato and climbed off the stage again, seeking out Daichi amongst their group and hugging him tightly; “My future brother-in-law! This is wonderful, I'm so happy for you both! Y'know, when I first saw you waiting on Hayato at the facility that day, I could tell how smitten you were with him. But I'd never have guessed you'd be the one to get him to settle!”

“Th-thanks...? We, uh, thought it'd be the right time,” Daichi said, clearly just as embarrassed as Hayato was, “Maybe we haven't technically been together that long, but since we live every day on borrowed time, we didn't want waste too much of it. Not when we both know what we want.”

Sousuke had his doubts about that. Maybe Daichi was naïve, but Sousuke remembered that back at the compound, Hayato was stringing the poor guy along like a puppet. Heck, Hayato was even casually dating other people at the same time as he was casually dating Daichi. And it had only been a little more than a year since then. Did these kids seriously think that dating for a year was enough time to just... just pop the big question like that? It was supposed to be the biggest commitment of all.

He glanced towards Makoto and then realised that maybe the reason he was so annoyed right now was because in all the years that him and Makoto had been together, Sousuke had never thought to propose to him. It never felt like there was any need. They were both secure and content in their relationship, they trusted each other, so why should they have to make a fancy statement about it?

At the same time as Sousuke looked at Makoto, he realised that Makoto had looked at him. Sousuke's breath hitched, but Makoto just took his hand again and whispered to him quietly while the others were talking.

“It's fine. We live in a different world to them,” Makoto said, “Don't worry about something like that.”

Yet somehow, that only made Sousuke worry more. Because Makoto hadn't said that he didn't want to get married, he'd said that Sousuke shouldn't feel pressured about it, which was entirely different. Did Makoto actually want to get married? Th-that seemed like something they should be talking about privately, not while they're surrounded by everyone they knew...

To distract from these knotted up feelings inside of him, Sousuke coughed to get everyone's attention.

“Right, so... congrats and all that, but we've got a lot of other stuff to talk about right now,” he said. Then he looked directly at Hayato; “You've spent the last year forming a cult on our doorstep and you never thought to let us know?”

“I told you, I wanted to make sure this place was safe first,” Hayato insisted, “Raiders are coming from all across Japan and some of them are ruthless. I have to be thorough about checking them, especially since the compound might plant spies. I didn't want to bring Haru into a dangerous situation. Nor did I want to lead anyone hostile to you by coming back to the mountains to visit.”

“Well, you've got us here now either way,” said Sousuke, “They've started setting up those cure machines on the mountain trail. It wasn't safe for Haru or Chiyo to stay there.”

“So they're closing in on us...” Gou muttered.

“Scare tactics,” dismissed Hayato, “They want to make us think that they're taking ground from us, but if that was true, then they'd have us already. The compound knows where we are and what we're doing. If they haven't attacked us, that means that they can't.”

“Yet. They can't attack yet. But you'd be a fool to believe that they won't be working on it,” Gou said, “I've been an enemy of the compound a lot longer than you have and I know that they won't take this lying down.”

“Why are we here, then?” checked Sousuke, “If you think they'll come for us anyway, then why are you gathering up raiders like sardines in a can?”

“...Because this is the last resort,” Hayato replied, his face completely grim now, “Don't think I don't know what a long shot this is. But if we don't do something, then raiders will just be picked off across the country one by one. The compound wants to take Japan for themselves. You think Christine Whittle cares about clearing out zombies so everyone can be safe and live equally? She just wants to be the hero who brought the compound sheep back home. That'll put her in the highest position of political power. The rest of the world will be knocking on her door for the cure, if they haven't been already. And the raiders just get in the way of that. Maybe she'll get rid of us all eventually, but I don't want to make it easy for them. If we're going down fighting, we'll be stronger together.”

This was it, the speech that had won Gou over. Sousuke loved Gou like part of his own family, but he knew how gung-ho she was these days. She was a raider through and through, which was why she'd signed up to Hayato's cause.

But Sousuke wouldn't be so easily convinced by Hayato's fancy words.

“You've got us no matter what,” Sousuke pointed out, “I don't think painting a target on Iwatobi is a good idea at all, but we also don't have anywhere else to go. If the cure is everywhere, then this is the only safe place. At least for now.” He climbed up onto the stage and stood over Hayato, staring down at him. Perhaps Hayato might be tall, but Sousuke was taller. He wanted to make his stance clear; “...We're staying. Because we have to. But don't think I've forgotten that you're the reason we're all in this mess in the first place. I want to trust you, kid. Don't give me a reason not to.”

Hayato took a step backwards, intimidated by Sousuke's glare.

“I'll t-try my best...” he said, “So I guess you'll want to know where you're staying?”

“Haru needs to stay away from where you're keeping the zombies, I won't budge on that,” said Sousuke.

“That's good, because it's the one place you're not permitted to go,” Hayato replied.

“Not permitted?” Sousuke echoed, with a hint of distaste.

“Yes, not permitted,” said Hayato, “I'll take a lot of liberties with you and let you all have free reign of Iwatobi otherwise, but I have to put my foot down about this. None of you can go over the fence to where the zombies are. I don't know why you'd want to anyway.”

“That seems reasonable enough,” Makoto said, with an air of trying to keep the peace.

“Fine, no zombie zone. Is there anything else we should know before you send us out of your throne room?” Sousuke said.

“No, that should be everything for now. Daichi will show you to some of the houses we've been using and you can pick out whichever ones you like, as long as they aren't already occupied. We can all talk more once you've gotten settled,” said Hayato.

But Sousuke saw it. When Hayato said _'that should be everything',_ for a fraction of a second, Daichi looked at him in surprise. Daichi didn't speak up, clearly knowing better than to go against Hayato, but the guy was a bad actor. Sousuke saw the way his eyebrows raised.

There was something else. Something that Hayato was keeping secret from them. Again.

Unfortunately, Sousuke knew that calling Hayato out about it wouldn't yield the results that he wanted. Hayato was too slippery for that. No, Sousuke would have to do his own digging to find out the truth.

And he knew exactly where to start. If Hayato wanted to keep them away from the zombies that badly, it must've been for another reason besides just their safety. Thinking that way, it made sense that Hayato would hide his secrets with them, since it was the one place no one would want to go.

Which was why Sousuke had to go there and find out exactly what was up. But he wouldn't do it now. He'd have to wait until they'd been shown to where they were staying and the others were safe. At least as safe as they could be here.

So for now, he'd play along.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since Hayato and Daichi are coming back into the story now, I thought this would be a good time to plug their side-story, Gold Rations Card. 
> 
> It's an optional bonus fic in the Trail Mix series, you won't miss out if you don't read it, but it does expand upon their backstory a lot. Especially for Daichi, since he hasn't featured much in the main fics until now. Also, it's actually the fic in this series that I'm personally the most proud of - it just came together really well and expanded on a lot of the lore that I couldn't quite fit into the main series at that point in time. So if you do want to know more about Hayato and Daichi's relationship, that fic's right there waiting.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sousuke sets out to try and discover what secrets Hayato is keeping from them this time. What he doesn't expect is how damaging the answer could be to Makoto.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a chapter I've had planned for a long time. I honestly don't know which was harder to write between this one and Noriko's death.

It was dark before Sousuke set out. There was no way that he could've left sooner, because everyone had been preoccupied with getting settled into their new homes until then. Sousuke wanted to be sure that he knew exactly where everyone would be, in case they needed to flee Iwatobi. Which was ironic, since right now Sousuke didn't want anyone to know where he was going.

The houses they'd chosen to stay in were nice, but it was almost surreal to be back in Iwatobi after so long, living in houses that they'd once passed by on a regular basis, but at the time those houses had belonged to completely different people. People who were now either dead, infected or tucked away in the compound.

Since Iwatobi had been taken over by the raiders, the houses had been cleaned up as best they could be. They even had some limited electricity, since a generator had been setup. It was almost... normal. So much so that it was unnerving.

After living altogether in a cramped cottage for the last year, the group reached an agreement to have separate houses. It was against Sousuke's better judgement. He wanted to keep everyone as close together as possible, because they were safer that way. But he was outvoted and he couldn't deny the others their wish to have space. As it stood, Gou had already chosen a house of her own, Sousuke and Makoto would live together, and Kisumi, Haru and Chiyo would be sharing a house between the three of them. Hopefully that would work out okay. As mentally strong as Kisumi had become when he'd travelled to find Chiyo, Sousuke didn't fancy Kisumi's chances if something happened to Haru and Chiyo, leaving Kisumi to fend them off on his own...

He told himself that he was worrying too much. All of their houses were close together, so he could check on everyone easily enough. Besides, it would be nice to have some time for just him and Makoto once they gotten settled in. Privacy was a luxury they'd so rarely had.

Which was another reason why he felt guilty that the first thing he was doing tonight was sneaking away, but fortunately he didn't get very far before he was caught.

“Nice night for a stroll?”

Sousuke turned back towards the door, where Makoto was now leaning against its frame with his arms folded, a knowing smirk on his face. Sousuke glanced away like a kid who'd been caught stealing from his mother's store.

“So long as none of the raiders shoot me it will be,” he mumbled.

“Maybe if you didn't skulk around so much, people wouldn't think that you're up to something,” said Makoto. With that, he closed the door and walked down the path after Sousuke; “Where are we going then?”

Sousuke's throat felt dry; “Just... exploring around town. See what's changed.”

“Okay, but where are we really going?” Makoto asked.

“No getting out of it with you, is there? I should know that by now,” Sousuke said. He kept walking, resigned to the fact that he now wasn't going alone and actually feeling better for that; “Look, this probably won't surprise you, but I don't fully trust Hayato. Whatever his intentions are, I just know he's keeping secrets from us.”

“And you plan to expose those secrets on the very first night we're here?” said Makoto.

“We don't have time to piss around, Makoto. If something is wrong with this place, then we need to run before it's too late. Maybe it's already too late, but at least the compound isn't on us just yet,” Sousuke replied.

As they walked, they saw several raiders talking in the distance. Sousuke's first instinct was to hide, but Makoto instead waved cheerfully across to them. The raiders waved back and then returned to their own conversation like nothing had happened. The situation was defused before it had become a situation at all. Makoto was good at that.

“If we don't act suspicious, they won't treat us like we are,” Makoto said, once they'd put some distance between themselves and anyone else, “Whether you choose to join them or not, for now they believe that we're on their side. And our close ties to Hayato might grant us some privileges.”

“You know, I'd be dead if not for you,” Sousuke commented, in awe of his logic.

“I don't know about that, but you'd definitely have a lot more enemies,” replied Makoto, “So where are we heading? I assume you have somewhere in mind.”

“To where the zombies are being kept,” Sousuke answered, “Don't look at me like that – it checks out. Any normal person would assume that we wouldn't want to go there because there's zombies, obviously. But Hayato made this big deal of us being forbidden to go there. That's where he's hiding something.”

“If he's hiding anything,” Makoto corrected, “But I know you won't settle unless we know for sure. Let's just... try to avoid putting ourselves at too much risk. The others need us.”

He was right about that. Sousuke might've been stubborn, but he wasn't going to let trying to prove a point take him away from the group. They were his family, everything he did was for their safety. That was the reason he was coming out here at all.

They passed many raiders as they travelled through Iwatobi, but the closer they got to the fence that kept the zombies out, the less they saw. Of course the fence was guarded, but under the cover of darkness and with the familiarity of the area that they had, it wasn't too difficult to sneak around them. This fence was high enough to keep the zombies from getting over, but it wasn't nearly as high as the fence surrounding the town. With some effort, they managed to climb over it.

Their feet hit the ground with a resounding 'thud'. They waited a second, but nothing had been alerted to their presence, not zombie nor raider. Makoto let out a sigh.

“Back on my home turf...” he whispered.

That was unfortunately true. The fenced off area was large enough to contain both Haru and Makoto's old houses, as well as the pool where Sousuke had last seen Rin. It was a big zombie-friendly zone. And it was certainly... occupied.

While the streets on the raider side of the fence had felt safe and almost pleasant, on these streets, the zombies wandered freely. Sousuke wondered why Hayato didn't keep a tighter leash on them. Back at the compound, Hayato didn't have any trouble with zombies being held for research by the facility he worked in. What had changed now? What was different about here?

For that matter, Sousuke wasn't sure why Hayato had kept so many zombies alive at all. Perhaps he didn't want to be compared to the compound, since they were clearing zombies out across Japan. But Sousuke doubted that the raiders would be bothered by zombies being killed on their own turf.

It only fuelled Sousuke's belief that Hayato was using the zombies as cover to keep people away from something.

“Let's stick together,” Sousuke said, as they crept through the streets, “If anything happens, we'll just leave.”

Now that they were here, Sousuke decided that in this they didn't have as much of a time limit. If they couldn't find anything tonight, they could keep checking back until they did. They could keep going until the compound defeated this revolution. Or... whatever the alternate was. Sousuke didn't dare think about winning.

The zombies they crept around were mostly dormant, since they didn't expect anyone to be here. As long as Sousuke and Makoto weren't seen, they should be fine. But this meant that their progress was slow. After about twenty minutes, they'd barely checked a single street and they hadn't dared to look in any of the buildings.

“This isn't a one night job,” Sousuke whispered, as the two of them took the long route onto the next street, to avoid a pile of zombies.

“This isn't a two person job. But...” Makoto hesitated. Then he continued, “...But can we go this way, Sousuke?”

He pointed up the hill, towards where Makoto and Haru had once lived. Sousuke followed his gaze. It didn't look like there were so many zombies up there, but there were a lot of places that they could hide.

“Makoto... I understand why you'd want to, but I'm not sure-”

That was when they saw it. A tall figure in a white coat, walking up the hill. The figure was facing away from them and didn't know they were there, but Sousuke had no doubt about who it was.

“Hayato...!” he hissed, “So he is up to something.”

“Let's follow him,” Makoto whispered.

They were in agreement now. Without another word, they tailed Hayato, keeping low to not alert him of their presence. Hayato wasn't the most difficult person to elude, since the boy was a sheltered scientist through and through. Whereas Makoto and Sousuke were both hunters – they'd spent years learning how to sneak up on animals. And most animals were much more alert than Hayato was.

Hayato stopped in front of Makoto's old house. He looked around, then he must've made an ill-informed decision that the coast was clear and headed through the unlocked door. Next to him, Sousuke saw Makoto shaking. He put a hand on his shoulder, but said nothing. How could Sousuke reassure Makoto when he didn't even know why Hayato was there?

All they could do was keep following him to find out. They waited a few minutes and then crept towards the open door. As soon as they were inside, they could hear the faint sound of Hayato's voice, but not anyone else's. Was he talking to himself...?

“He's this way...” Makoto whispered, because of course he'd know his own house best.

They crept closer to what Sousuke assumed was where the back door would be. Since Makoto and Sousuke were only just beginning to become closer friends before the outbreak, Sousuke hadn't been in Makoto's house before. But he was right about their path leading them to the back door. And that was where they found Hayato – with his head pressed against the closed door, talking to seemingly no one. His shoulders were slumped and he looked the most resigned that Sousuke had seen him in a long time.

“-so I just don't know what to do...” Hayato said, his voice laboured with emotions, “They're all here now a-and you're here... And I'm not any further forward. I don't want to hurt them, but if they find you... If they find all of you...”

That was when they realised too late that Hayato wasn't alone. Outside in the garden, there was scratching against the door. And there was... bleating. Like that of a zombie, but also like the voice of a child.

Before Sousuke had fully processed this, Makoto surged forward from where they'd been hiding like a man possessed. He grabbed Hayato by the shoulder and spun him around, screaming into his face with a rage that Sousuke had never seen from him before.

“Why would you do this! Why the fuck would you do this, Hayato!” Makoto demanded.

He let go of Hayato and shoved him away, before pressing his own face against the back door. Then Makoto let out an anguished cry and sunk to his knees, sobbing into his hands.

Sousuke was at his side in an instant, but he couldn't help himself – before he crouched down, he looked through the window into the back garden. Pressed against the other side of the door, looking up at Sousuke through blank eyes that saw nothing but its next meal, was a small boy with chocolatey brown hair. It was Makoto's little brother, Ren Tachibana. And it didn't seem like he was the only one in that garden... Behind him, his sister Ran was wandering around the garden in a route that made sense to no one but herself and the little that remained of both of their parents were slumped together by the fence.

It was too much. Sousuke joined Makoto on the floor and wrapped his arms around him, cradling Makoto's shaking body close. He glared across at Hayato, who was steadying himself from where Makoto had pushed him.

“You're sick...” Sousuke hissed.

“It... it's n-not like that...!” Hayato stammered, “Makoto, you h-have to believe me...!”

“Then what is it like!” snapped Makoto, his head jerking up in an instant, “Why are you keeping my family held here like this? What are you doing with them?”

“Nothing!” Hayato protested, “That's the problem! When we got back here, there were so many of them and I... I just didn't know what to do! So I fenced them off, b-but I kept coming back to check on them and... and...”

“And what?” Makoto pressed, eyes narrowed.

“...I just started to talk to them,” said Hayato. He couldn't keep eye contact with Makoto now; “Look, I didn't know your family, but your brother and sister... they were just a bit older than me when the infection broke out. I f-felt like I could talk to them...”

Makoto got to his feet suddenly. Sousuke shuffled out of the way to let Makoto up, watching him carefully. But all Makoto did was look out into the garden, where Ren was still scratching at the door. Then he looked back at Hayato. Makoto's eyes were blank, but his trembling lips were set into a frown, as if holding back the urge to scream. It took a few long moments, but when he found his voice, the words stabbed through Sousuke's heart like little knives.

“Look at them... they're still children. A-and you're an adult now... so if th-they'd survived, they'd be like you...” Makoto said to Hayato, “...But they're not. They're trapped like this forever...”

“I'm sorry...” Hayato whispered. For once, it felt like he actually was.

“Hayato, is there... any way to help them?” Makoto asked, “There isn't, is there...?”

“Not as far as I know,” said Hayato, “Or anyone knows, for that matter. The only exceptions are synesthetes like Haru and Chiyo. But it would've been obvious before now if they were like that. For them to have gone this long... there's no way. And even if there was a cure, it'd bring them back as two mutilated children. That's not what anyone wants...”

Makoto's fists clenched; “No, it isn't... They're gone. They're just... gone.”

“I'm afraid so...” said Hayato.

“Maybe... we should go?” Sousuke suggested, getting to his feet. He didn't want to see any more.

“Not yet. I can't leave them like this,” said Makoto.

“What do you want us to do? There's no way to save them...” Hayato said.

“I want the two of you to wait outside,” Makoto answered, forcing himself to sound calm.

Sousuke put a hand on his shoulder; “Makoto, you can't do this-”

“-I can, Sousuke! They're my family, so I'm the only one who can!” Makoto roared, jerking his shoulder away. His eyes were welled up with tears; “If there's no way to save them... they're not really alive. Look at them. Just look at them!” He gestured through the window, to the grim sight of two children who were lost to the virus and two adults who'd been eaten alive by their own kids; “It was a family barbecue! They called me on the day of the outbreak and I promised that I'd hurry home. By the time I got there... it was already too late. But I was scared and stupid back then, so I ran! I'm still scared now, but I'm not stupid any more... I know what I have to do.”

“I can stay with you...” Sousuke offered.

But Makoto shook his head; “I can't do this with you watching... You're already going to go home knowing what I've done and that's hard enough. I need to be alone.”

“R-right...” Sousuke said, though he hated it, “But Makoto, I... I still love you. No matter what happens, I love you.”

Makoto's expression was unreadable. He turned to face the back door, away from the two of them.

“Take Hayato and wait outside...” he said.

There was no arguing. Sousuke walked over to Hayato and put a hand on his shoulder, but Hayato didn't protest as he was led outside of the house. Sousuke could almost feel Makoto listening for their footsteps to disappear. He walked with Hayato all the way to the end of the garden and then stopped.

The two of them waited there for a long time. Sousuke supposed that Makoto was talking to his family, sharing words that were private between them. It was the worst situation to be in... Sousuke couldn't even imagine it. To look at your family, knowing that they weren't living, but weren't dead. How could anyone make a choice in that situation? There were no right answers, just regret either way.

...Yet Makoto made the choice that Sousuke wouldn't have been brave enough to make.

Two gunshots rang out from around the back of the house in short succession, cutting through the silence of the night with a sickening finality. It was over.

Hayato was shaking and when Sousuke looked over, he saw that he was crying quietly to himself, but Sousuke didn't offer him any moral support. Instead he waited for Makoto to come out of the house, which took even longer still. When the front door did open once more, Makoto's head was hung low, but his cheeks were still burned red from the path of his tears. Sousuke walked over to him, but when he put his hand out, Makoto shook his head. He wasn't ready yet.

“Let's go back to the house...” said Sousuke.

Makoto didn't answer him. Instead he looked across at Hayato.

“Who else is here?” he asked.

Hayato flinched, but answered, “Everyone I could find. Rin, Nagisa, Rei, Hibiki... lots of the others. Are you going to...?”

He didn't need to finish that sentence for them to know what he was asking. Makoto's expression hardened.

“No, I wouldn't have the right to make that choice,” he said, “I'm the last member of my family – I'm the only one who gets to decide for them. But Nagisa and Rei? What right would I have?” He walked over to Hayato and pulled Hayato's head towards him when he tried to look away; “...You need to tell Gou about Rin. And tell Chiyo about his friend. They're the only one who could decide for those two.”

“What about the others?” Hayato asked.

“I don't know... But you've been managing fine not knowing until now,” said Makoto, “I just... can't think right now. Maybe later, but for now it's just... too much. I just killed my family, Hayato.”

Sousuke stepped forward; “The outbreak killed your family. Not you. You just did what you had to do.”

“I just wish... well, I don't know,” Makoto sighed. This was all too much.

“Let's go back,” Sousuke repeated.

This time, Makoto nodded. None of them wanted to stay any longer. They left the house in complete silence. Sousuke couldn't feel anything but remorse. He'd uncovered Hayato's secret, but instead of it being a big plot that could put them in danger, it was something very personal that had hurt Makoto so much. Sousuke didn't believe that Hayato had intended to cause harm – he was in a dangerous position himself and needed someone to vent to in a way that wouldn't cause backlash later. But why he'd chosen Makoto's family, Sousuke didn't know. Perhaps it truly was just because the twins had been close to his age before all of this started. Knowing that only hammered home how long they'd been in this situation. Was there ever any end...?

Sousuke looked to Makoto, who was trapped in a bubble that no one could break through, not even Sousuke. Yet Sousuke would still be there for him. He put his arm around Makoto's shoulder as they walked and this time Makoto didn't protest. Instead he just kept walking. They had to keep walking...


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sousuke finds himself talking to Kisumi about the horrific event of last night and the effect that it's had on Makoto. But then some new arrivals reach Iwatobi, bringing with them a familiar face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, so DTF gave Gou the buff girlfriend she deserves and you didn't think I was going to ignore that, did you? Obviously she wasn't in the original plan for this fic, but I was more than happy to make some changes to add in this wonderful lady.

Sousuke sat on the beach, watching the waves lap against the shore and not forgetting for a moment about the situation he was in. It might have been easy to forget if he'd wanted to - he could've drifted back to a time before zombies or guards or scientists who think they can rule the roost. For the first time in many years, Sousuke was relatively safe. Neither the zombies nor the compound could get to him on this beach. And yet still he couldn't relax.

Obviously a large reason for that was what happened last night. Makoto was inconsolable, but in a different way to usual. He wasn't emotional, as he'd have every right to be, it was actually the opposite. Makoto was very quiet and made it clear that he didn't want to talk about what happened. Sousuke loved him dearly, he'd do anything to take the pain away, and yet... he just didn't know what to say. He didn't know how to help.

When would Hayato truly realise the effects that his actions had on others?

Another reason that Sousuke couldn't relax was because it was cold as fuck and he suspected that the tide would soon be close enough that he couldn't keep sitting here without getting his ass wet. He was just thinking about leaving when he heard someone walking across the sand to greet him.

“Sousuke! Good morning,” Kisumi called across.

“Is it still morning?” Sousuke asked.

Kisumi sat down next to him, so it looked like Sousuke wasn't going anywhere just yet. He could tell from the nervous way that Kisumi positioned himself that Kisumi knew what was going on, despite trying to put on a brave face about it.

“Last I checked it was. So what are you doing out here?” Kisumi said, “Did you need some air...?”

“I think we all will after that. Because I take it Hayato's told you,” said Sousuke. He didn't see the point in beating about the bush.

Kisumi flinched, but didn't deny it; “Yeah... he came over earlier to break the news. Specifically because one of the zombies had been Chiyo's friend, Hibiki... Since Hibi's family lived in America, Chiyo's basically the only person left who can decide what happens to him. We were all shocked... B-but Hayato told us about what happened last night as well. How is Makoto...?”

“Terrible. He's shutting everything out. Even me. Can't say I blame him, but I just... I don't know what to do, Kisumi,” Sousuke sighed, “How can anyone help him with this? He shot his own brother and sister...”

“It's too awful to think about... I can't imagine what it must be like to be in that position. Hopefully I'll never have to find out,” said Kisumi, “But I think you're doing the right thing. You'll be there for him, because you always are, but right now he'll need his space to reflect on it all. He'll come to you when he's ready. You know that he will.”

“I hope you're right...” Sousuke replied.

“But what about you?” Kisumi asked, “How are you feeling about all of this? Because Rin's one of the zombies there, too.”

It wasn't often that Sousuke stopped to assess how he felt about a situation on an emotional level. Usually he was too busy being concerned with the well-being of others. And that was true of this as well. When Kisumi asked him a question like that, Sousuke needed a few moments to even realise what the answer was himself. He tipped his head back, looking into the sky and putting his thoughts together before he replied.

“I feel... weirdly disconnected?” Sousuke answered, “Is that bad? I carried the guilt about Rin around with me for a long time, but I feel like I made my peace with him the first time that Hayato took me back to Iwatobi. It still pains me what happened, but when it comes down to it, whatever happens to Rin is Gou's choice. Same for Mrs. Matsuoka. My role is to be there to support Gou. She's going to need it.”

No matter how strong Gou was, no one was strong enough to deal with this alone.

“You're the most selfless out of all of us,” Kisumi said, “I think that Hayato is going to take Chiyo over to the fenced off area later today, so he can... well, say his last goodbyes to Hibi. I'd bet that Gou will be going with them, so maybe you could as well.”

“I definitely will,” Sousuke replied.

Regardless of whether or not Gou chose to go there today, each time someone went, Sousuke would be with them for support. It was the least he could do. Maybe Sousuke wasn't the closest to Chiyo and he'd never even met this Hibiki guy, but he still didn't want any of their group to face this brutal choice alone.

“They'd thank you for that,” said Kisumi, “...I'll thank you for that as well.”

When Sousuke looked across at Kisumi, he saw how grateful that smile was. Kisumi cared about Chiyo a lot, didn't he? Which led Sousuke to want to ask something he'd been wondering about for a while, even if it was frivolous and off-topic from the grim discussion they were having.

“Hey, so... you and Haru have been together for a while. Everything all right with that?” Sousuke opened with.

Kisumi nodded; “Oh yes, things are going great in that regard. No problems there. I feel like the two of us have... well, something special. Something maybe we couldn't find anywhere else.”

Okay, so that sounded good. Kisumi and Haru were doing fine. But they were also both living with Chiyo and seemed to get along with him pretty damn well. Which led to the next part of Sousuke's question, the part that he actually wanted to know the answer to.

“That's good, I'm glad that the two of you are still going strong, despite the shit situation,” said Sousuke, “And Chiyo... you guys have pretty much taken him in. I know that he can relate to Haru about the reformed zombie thing and that you were close to him way back when. But are you...?”

“Are we...?” Kisumi echoed.

Sousuke's throat dried up. From the way Kisumi's smile curled up at the edges of his lips, he knew exactly what Sousuke was trying to ask. It would just take a few more words and maybe Sousuke would have a definite answer to the Kisumi, Haru and Chiyo situation.

...But also, it wasn't any of his business.

He sighed and admitted defeat.

“You know what? Never mind,” he said.

Kisumi was about to make a reply, but then both of them were silenced by an alarm from back in the town. It sounded like it was coming from the main gate and when Sousuke looked over, people were headed in that direction.

“I think that means more raiders are arriving,” said Kisumi. He got to his feet, but Sousuke did not. Kisumi looked down at him; “Aren't you coming?”

“Why should I? Look, I know he's your brother, but I still don't know if I want anything to do with Hayato's revolution,” Sousuke replied, “Besides, those raiders could be anyone. Why are you going?”

He watched Kisumi bite his lip. It took him a moment, but when Kisumi answered, his words sounded definite.

“Because no matter what we decide, I want to fit in here,” Kisumi said, “My loyalty lies with you guys, you know that, but I also miss being part of a community. It didn't work out back at the compound, but maybe this could.”

That was it, wasn't it? Back at the very beginning of the outbreak, Kisumi struggled the most, because he thrived on being around others. That was why Sousuke had thought it was best for him to leave when they believed they were being rescued. And no matter how well Kisumi had adapted over the years, that part of him hadn't disappeared. Kisumi wanted to be around people. As much as Sousuke doubted that this Iwatobi situation would work out, it'd be wrong to take it away from Kisumi.

He got to his feet, frowning across when Kisumi smiled at him.

“Let's get this over with,” he said.

Raiders were coming here all the time, so Sousuke told himself that the novelty would soon wear off after a few days. In the meantime, it couldn't hurt to see how things were done here. When they'd arrived yesterday, they'd been ushered to Hayato right away, but Sousuke assumed that they'd been a special case and it wasn't the same for everyone.

Yet when Sousuke and Kisumi reached the gate, Hayato was there. He was with Gou and from the way her shoulders were shaking, Sousuke could guess that Hayato had recently broken the news to her about Rin. He tried to head across to her, but there was a crowd between them and Sousuke couldn't shove his way through in time.

And then the gates were opened.

A moderately large group of raiders drove through in various vehicles, ranging from cars to small trucks. From how worn the raiders looked, Sousuke assumed that they'd travelled a long way. But their spirits were not dampened by the journey at all. By contrast, they were cheering loudly at the warm welcome that the revolution gave them. One person cheered the loudest of all.

“Iwatobi! We've come all the way from Tokyo to join you! Let's put a stop to these compound thieves once and for all!”

Sousuke looked up to where a tall, muscular woman stood on top of one of the vans, pumping her fist in the air for all to see. Something about her seemed familiar. Had Sousuke met her before?

“Isuzu!” Gou called, “Is that you...?”

“Gou?”

Wait... Isuzu? Wasn't that Momo's sister? As Sousuke watched her jump from the top of the van and land on the road, Sousuke realised that it had to be her. She had the same red hair and loud, brash nature that her brothers had. He saw Gou push through the crowd towards her. When the two reached each other, they cried out and hugged tightly.

“I can't believe it! After all these years,” Gou gasped, “Isuzu... we never knew what happened to you! I... I saw that your brothers didn't make it, but I never knew...”

Sousuke and Kisumi had made it across to them now, but neither wanted to interrupt this reunion. So they stayed quiet as the two talked to each other. Isuzu broke apart from the hug, smiling down at Gou a little sadly.

“I know what happened to them...” she said, “After the outbreak, I came here to find them, but it was too late. So I went back to Tokyo in the end. I had to, it was my home. Once you get used to it, living there isn't too bad. Or at least it wasn't, before that cure started rolling out.”

“And that's why you're here?” Gou asked.

Isuzu flexed one of her arms.

“Ready to fight to the bitter end!” she announced, “Now I know you're on my side, I'll fight even harder! So who else is on this team? Who's the leader, for that matter?”

The reality of the situation came back to Gou. When she looked across at Hayato, her face soured, despite the happy mood. Hayato nerves suggested that he knew he deserved the look she gave him.

“That would be me,” he said, “I'm the leader of the revolution.”

“Huh, really? I was expecting someone tough, not a scrawny, science-y looking guy,” said Isuzu, “But I guess it takes brains to go head to head with the compound. I'm Isuzu Mikoshiba and I'm at the revolution's service!”

“Mikoshiba...” mumbled Hayato, who looked like he had a headache coming on for a very good reason, “Then it looks like you arrived at the right time, even if it's for... well, a horrible reason. You should come with us. I'm sure Gou can fill you in on the way there.” Then Hayato turned to look at Kisumi and added; “Can you get Chiyo? I think it's time...”

Kisumi's face was grave, with none of the usual cheerfulness that he wore around his brother.

“Right, I'll go find him,” he said, “I think Haru went to see Makoto, so... we could probably go on without him. Sousuke, I know you said you wanted to come, but if you'd rather wait here, then I'll understand. It's not like Chiyo and the others are going to be alone in this...”

“No, I'm coming,” Sousuke insisted, “I'm true to my word.”

Isuzu tilted her head to a side; “You all sound so serious. Something happening here that I don't know about?”

“Like Hayato said, I'll... tell you as we go,” said Gou, resting her hand on Isuzu's arm, “You might want to prepare for the worst.”

Sousuke nodded grimly. Truer words had never been spoken.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gou's brother, Gou's mother and Chiyo's friend – three souls who've waited far too long to be laid to rest. The group set out to finally help them find peace, with Isuzu coming along to find her brothers as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a heads up that I'm going on holiday next week and I'll be away for about three weeks, so this fic probably won't be updated again until I get back. But the exciting part is that I'm going to Japan with Amber_Galaxy and the two of us are spending a day in Iwami, the town that Iwatobi is based on! So I'm sure that'll be good reference for future fic writing.

Isuzu's reaction to the news was loud and angry, which Sousuke approved of. Of course he was angry as well, but their group was generally composed of quiet people. Even Kisumi paled in comparison to how loud Isuzu was. She wasn't even slightly biased with sentimentality when it came to Hayato, since she'd never met him before today. Sometimes Sousuke wondered if the reason that everyone went so easy on Hayato was because they'd all known him since he was a wide-eyed child who needed to be protected from the outbreak. But for all Sousuke referred to him as “kid” sometimes, Hayato was an adult and responsible for his own actions. Especially the actions that had affected so many people...

“So it never crossed your mind that people might be hurt by what you're doing?” Isuzu demanded, having rounded on Hayato as soon Gou finished telling her about the zombies, “It's not like these are just some randos – they're the families and friends of people you're supposed to care about! This is just stupid!”

Hayato's indignant face at being called 'stupid' was one that Sousuke wished he could take a photo of and have framed on his mantelpiece.

“W-what was I supposed to do with them...? It wasn't my right to decide to kill them! It just... it felt wrong...” Hayato said, without meeting Isuzu's sharp gaze.

She tutted, put her hands on her hips and turned away.

“Y'know... I guess I can't judge you too badly when I didn't have the guts to do it way back when,” Isuzu said, “I should've put my brothers out of their misery in the beginning... It's not honourable for a Mikoshiba to wander around like that. But back then I wanted to believe there was a way to save them. There isn't, is there?”

At that, Hayato did look up again; “No... I can say with almost complete certainty that there isn't. The only exceptions are the reformed zombies, like Chiyo here.”

“Yeah, this guy... I almost can't believe this is real either. Or that Nanase is one!” said Isuzu.

She turned to look Chiyo up and down, not for the first time since he'd joined them. Kisumi had gone to get Chiyo, so all of them could make this trip together and decide the fates of their families. Even if not for the fact that Chiyo didn't talk much since he'd been infected, Sousuke had a feeling that he wouldn't know what to say when under Isuzu's scrutiny.

“You'll see Haru soon enough, I'm sure,” said Gou, “But Chiyo's one of the good ones. Back before he got infected, the two of us would often work together during raids.”

“Any ally of Gou's is an ally of mine,” Isuzu replied, “Maybe it'll be nice having a flesh-eater on our side for once. Too bad I can't say the same about the compound.”

“Well, we have two ex-compound guys here. You've just been yelling at one of them,” said Sousuke, as he gestured towards Hayato.

“The revolution leader is from the compound? Ugh. This whole thing seems fishy! You sure you don't just want to give me the reins? I promise that I can smash enemy heads real good,” Isuzu offered.

“Thanks, but I can assure you that I know what I'm doing,” Hayato insisted, ignoring the snort Sousuke made to that, “Perhaps my track record is sketchy, but no one wants the compound to be stopped more than I do.”

With that, he turned to the gate they'd reached, where the guards were eyeing them with confusion. They probably didn't get too many visitors to the zombie enclosure, after all. Even when Hayato told the guards to let them through, the gates were open with an air of hesitation.

“I'm sure I don't need to tell anyone to take care once we get inside,” said Hayato.

Chiyo stood in front of Kisumi, as if protecting him from any zombies that might jump out. For a moment, Sousuke thought of Makoto. Although in this day and age, if Sousuke tried to be all protective like that with Makoto, it'd probably just result in Makoto raising an eyebrow at him.

They all headed inside and Sousuke took it upon himself to ask the question he reckoned everyone was thinking; “Who are we going to first? Since I guess that we'll all be sticking together.”

“Not me!” Isuzu announced, “No offence to any of you, but I'd rather my last moments with my brothers was mine alone. You don't have to worry though – I can get around without being caught by any zombies.”

“If you're sure,” said Gou, “But if you need us, just call.”

“You'll hear me!” said Isuzu.

With that, she disappeared up one of the streets, almost as if she knew exactly where to look for Momo and Seijuro. Maybe she did. But as Isuzu left, Sousuke saw Gou take a step to follow her, before stopping herself. He put a hand on Gou's shoulder, snapping her back to her senses.

“She'll be fine,” he said, speaking quietly so the others wouldn't hear, “Besides, I think you're needed here. You and Kisumi are the ones who knew this Hibiki guy, so Chiyo will need your support. And then when it comes to Rin...”

He trailed off without finishing that sentence. There was a moment so silence as they both processed what was going to happen today.

“I'll be ready. Both Rin and Mom will properly join Dad today. It'll be good for them...” said Gou.

On that sombre note, their group headed through another street, Hayato having a good idea where to start looking. The impression Sousuke got was that the zombies wandered around a little, but they weren't that motivated when they didn't think there were people for them to devour. In the light of the day, these streets seemed considerably less unnerving than they had been last night. Yet even so, it wouldn't do to attract too much attention.

They found Hibiki resting against the counter of a second-hand book store that Sousuke remembered visiting a few times before the outbreak. Since then it had been ransacked, of course, but a lot of the less useful books remained – scattered across the floor. Hibiki himself was unsettling to look at, given that it was only a little more than a year since he'd been infected. Most of the zombies Sousuke saw were much older, but Hibiki still looked... well, as fresh as a year old walking corpse could look. Much of his hair remained. It looked to be wild and springy. When Hibiki saw them, he made a few small bleats, but otherwise didn't make much effort to get up.

“Lost in his fantasy world until the end...” Gou whispered.

“Are you sure you can do this?” Kisumi asked Chiyo.

Now it was Kisumi's turn to protect Chiyo, from something much worse than physical harm. Sousuke watched as Kisumi put his hand on Chiyo's arm and looked up at him, eyes full of concern. Chiyo was actually shaking. He made a few soft noises, like the kind that Haru would make around other zombies, but although Hibiki was also bleating, it didn't sound as if there was any rhyme or reason to it. Hibiki was not responding to Chiyo.

“...H-he's goneee...” said Chiyo, low voicing ringing out through the silent store, “...He'll... n-neeeverr come baa-aack...”

“I know it isn't easy... But you protected him for a long time. He'd have wanted it to be you,” Kisumi soothed.

But Chiyo shook his head; “...He w-woouuldn't... waaant it t-to be a-any...oneee...”

Yet it had to be someone. Chiyo took out a handgun that looked weirdly out of place in his zombie hands. Sousuke realised that he'd never seen a zombie shoot someone before – even if Haru could use a gun, he'd never bothered with one and got by hunting on his own skills. But to put someone out of their misery, this would be the cleanest and most effective option Chiyo had, even if it did seem heartless when Sousuke thought of it that way.

For longer than a minute, Chiyo stood there, holding up his gun to the bleating, but otherwise seemingly harmless zombie in front of him. Yet even if Hibiki himself wouldn't attack, if the noise lasted much longer, it'd attract other zombies who would.

Chiyo lowered his gun.

“...C-caaan't... do ittt...”

Sousuke wasn't going to see a zombie shoot someone today.

Gou took the initiative. She walked forward and eased the gun out of Chiyo's hand, nodding up to him.

“I'll do it,” she said, “He was my friend as well. Will you... be okay with that?”

Chiyo looked from Gou to Hibiki and back again. There was a sharp intake of breath. It looked like Chiyo wanted to cry, but didn't have the ability to do so.

“...P-pleaaase... maaake it quickkk...” he said.

Kisumi stayed by Chiyo's side, yet he ultimately looked away when Gou fired the shot. But Chiyo didn't – he watched as the bullet sailed through Hibiki's head, swiftly putting him out of his misery thanks to Gou's accurate shooting. Hibiki let out a final cry and collapsed to the floor in a heap. Shit... this was someone who Sousuke had never met before, yet watching this happen was already too difficult. He couldn't imagine what it would be like when they got to the Matsuoka family.

Hayato looked out the windows following Hibiki's final cry. He suddenly seemed twitchy.

“We should move before the noise attracts other zombies,” he said.

But Chiyo ignored him. He walked across to Hibiki and picked up his limp body, holding it in his strong arms.

“...W-we bury hii-im... We b-bury all... of th-theemm...” Chiyo stated.

Then he walked past Hayato without waiting for an answer. Kisumi followed along beside Chiyo and Gou went with them. Looked like Hayato had been overruled. He caught Sousuke watching him and turned away.

“You pick weird times to be smug,” Hayato muttered.

Sousuke shrugged; “I'm just wondering what kind of leader you'll be if you can't get even your close friends to listen to you.”

With that, Sousuke walked out along with the others. A few moments later he heard Hayato follow, but he didn't look back at him. If these zombies were just wandering, then they'd find who they were looking for by chance instead of by direction, Sousuke decided. They didn't need Hayato.

Yet Rin had been in a very specific place when Sousuke had last seen him. So he sped up, taking the lead. It didn't take long to pass Chiyo and Kisumi at the slow pace they were walking.

“When I came to Iwatobi and saw Rin, I led him into the pool at the Returns,” he said, looking at Gou, “Unless he climbed out, he'll probably still be there.”

“We'll go there then,” Gou replied, “Maybe we'll find Mom along the way...”

Sousuke wasn't sure if he hoped that they would or wouldn't find her. At least if they did, it'd mean that this wasn't dragged out any longer than it had to be. They were all already suffering so much. Hopefully once the bodies were buried, they'd be able to find peace.

When they reached the pool, they found it was the same as it had been last time, with the faint sound of dripping in the distance and zombie groans echoing through the corridors. They stayed close together as they walked. It was lucky that Chiyo didn't seem to be as affected by the presence of other zombies as Haru was or else they'd have another problem on their hands. Instead he just quietly carried Hibiki's body as they walked.

Once they were through to the pool itself, the first thing that hit them was the stench of the murky water. It should've been drained years ago, but who knew what horrors it contained now. Well, Sousuke knew about one. He walked over to the edge and waited.

Sure enough, a hand reached out to grab at his ankle.

“Sousuke!” Kisumi yelled.

But Sousuke was faster than that. He tugged his foot away in time to see an arm that didn't belong to Rin retract into the water. There had been a wedding ring on one of the matted fingers and Rin definitely hadn't been married at the time of the outbreak.

“He's not alone in there,” Sousuke announced.

Now the problem was how to bait Rin out without dangling bits of themselves over the edge for zombies to grab. Sousuke walked over to one of the walls, where various equipment was stacked. He took hold of one of the weighed-down foam bricks that were used for diving practise and hoped it would be do job. Using his good arm, Sousuke chucked the brick into the middle of the pool, watching as it splashed loudly and sank to the bottom.

That did the trick.

The pool erupted with cries as suddenly all the zombies within it scrambled to find out what was happening. Some of them were going for the brick, but others had spotted actual living people at the edge of the pool and were coming for them. Rin was amongst them and... so was his mother. It looked as if she'd managed to find her son since Sousuke had left Rin here. It was heartbreaking.

“Get ready!” he shouted.

They'd be safe as long as the zombies stayed in the pool. But as Rin reached the edge, it seemed that this wasn't his intention. He managed to pull himself out, the greenish brown water sticking to his red hair like he was some sort of swamp creature. And his teeth... those had stayed the same. Except now they seemed more dangerous than ever before.

Rin lurched, but it wasn't Sousuke or Gou he went for. Instead, he dived straight for Chiyo, who stumbled backwards, determined to keep hold of Hibiki's body.

“Rin, nooo!” Kisumi cried, “You don't know what you're doing!”

But that was exactly the problem – Rin didn't know what he was doing. There was no part of this creature left that truly was Rin. And he didn't let up. He went for Chiyo over and over, with Chiyo stumbling backwards. His usual bulk was useless while he was trying to protect Hibiki's body.

Sousuke pulled out his gun and fired a few shots, but there was too much movement for him to manage to land any and the risk that he might hit the wrong target was too high.

“Drop Hibiki!” Sousuke yelled, “He'll be fine! We can grab him again before we go!”

It was too late. Rin launched himself at Chiyo, biting down on his arm with those sharp teeth of his. Chiyo let out a wounded cry and stumbled backwards. Kisumi made to rush over to his side, but it was Hayato who grabbed hold of him to stop him.

“He's already infected, Kisumi! He's got a lot less to lose than you do...!” Hayato cried.

Sousuke took aim once more, but someone else beat him to it. A third figure pelted through the door and jumped at Rin, trying to pull him off Chiyo with all his strength. It was Haru! Sousuke had no idea when he'd got here or how badly he was affected by being around these zombies, especially Rin, but it didn't seem to be stopping him from putting up a fight.

In a frenzy of loud screams from all three of the zombies, Haru managed to tug Rin away from Chiyo, who scrambled backwards, Hibiki still held in his arms. Now Haru and Rin were tearing into each other in a blur of blue and red.

But they weren't the only zombies that the others needed to worry about. Although Rin had been the swiftest one, others were now starting to climb out of the pool. Gou was already on it, firing shots in quick succession and knocking a few of them back. But she couldn't shoot her own mother, Sousuke just knew that she couldn't.

Miyako Matsuoka had been gone for a long time, yet when Sousuke looked at the zombie staggering towards them, some of her elegance still remained, in a weird way. Some of her hair still rested at the side of her head. She still looked just enough like Gou's mother that killing her would be a mammoth task.

And then someone did.

As Sousuke and Gou watched, a clean shot hit between Mrs. Matsuoka's eyes. She fell backwards, but thankfully she'd wandered far enough from the edge of the pool that she didn't fall back in it. Her head hit against the hard floor with a loud thud.

“Grab her! We've gotta get out of here!”

It was Isuzu. She'd found them in the nick of time and she'd been the one to shoot Mrs. Matsuoka without hesitation. Sousuke hoped that wouldn't make things difficult between Isuzu and Gou, but at the end of the day, Isuzu had finished the job that they'd came here to do.

Gou darted forward, to pull her mother away from the rest of the approaching zombies and Isuzu hurried to help her. Between the two of them, Sousuke knew they could manage. But they had to get out of here now.

“Take her! We'll catch up!” he yelled, “Kisumi, Hayato, you both go, too!”

There was no time for argument. Sousuke trusted that they'd listen to him and turned back to where Rin and Haru were still ripping into each other. Haru might've been undead, but that didn't mean that Rin couldn't finish the job if he hurt Haru enough. And he truly was going for it. Yet Haru wouldn't stop. He had to protect Chiyo.

And Sousuke had to protect everyone.

When he looked back on the moment later on, Sousuke could never say for sure which of them had actually taken out Rin – if it had been Haru gaining the upper hand in the fight, Chiyo having put down Hibiki's body to lunge for Rin or Sousuke firing that final shot. All three collided at the same time and in his heart of hearts, Sousuke hoped that it hadn't been him who'd put an end to Rin. He reckoned that Haru felt the same way.

Rin flew backwards in a spray of some gross liquid that Sousuke had never been able to properly know what it was, but he assumed that Hayato had studied it during his years as a scientist. When Sousuke dashed over, he saw that half of Rin's head was blown clean off. Rin wasn't coming back from that.

Rin was dead... for good this time.

There was no time for argument. Sousuke grunted and hoist Rin's body into his arms. Then he ran for the exit.

It wasn't until he was safely outside of the building, where the others were gathered, before he turned around to see that Chiyo and Haru were following him, Hibiki once again being carried by Chiyo. That was it. They'd made it out with everyone.

When Haru stopped, Sousuke regarded him carefully.

“You're here without turning back?” he checked, “Even though this is the Iwatobi zombies.”

“...Y-yoouuu n-neededd meee... n-not to be a droo...ling monssster...” said Haru, although as he spoke, it was clear that he was in a lot of pain and struggling to keep his sense of self, “...S-saviiinggg yourr... a-ass is m-moooree impoortaant... S-s-soousukee...”

“I'll let you have that one,” Sousuke replied, “Now let's get out of here. Those zombies from the pool will still be following us. Isuzu, did everything go well with your brothers?”

Isuzu nodded, a bright smile hiding the pain that she undoubtedly felt; “The Mikoshiba clan are reunited in the afterlife and waiting for me. Though I don't plan on joining them any time soon.”

“Good. Then let's go.”

He took that to mean that Isuzu had ended both Seijuro and Momo, possibly having buried them in the short space of time that she'd been away from them, although he didn't feel right asking about that part. Regardless, all of them made their way out of the sickening zombie enclosure, Sousuke carrying Rin, Chiyo carrying Hibiki and Mrs. Matsuoka being carried between Isuzu and Gou.

Once they were outside the gates, Sousuke felt like he could breathe properly again. There were still others inside whose fates depended on them – Nagisa, Rei and Nitori were the first to come to mind. But for today, this was enough. None of them could go through any more today.

“We're fine, none of us have been bitten,” Hayato told the guards on the gates.

Well, Chiyo had been bitten, but thankfully he wasn't affected by it. Sousuke glanced over at him, but other than the... zombie juice dripping from his arm, Chiyo didn't seem to be any worse for wear.

“...No-oot d-donee y-yet...” said Haru, attracting all of their attention, “...F-followw me...”

He ambled away through the town and the others walked with him. It felt almost like a funeral march and plenty of heads turned from raiders on the streets as they passed. But Hayato waved all of them off and they listened to him. Even if Hayato couldn't lead his friends, it seem as if the raiders respected him enough to follow his orders.

Haru took them all the way to a familiar cherry blossom tree that had remained ever strong even years after the outbreak, its tall branches providing shelter for those who rested beneath it. And even before Sousuke saw what was coming, somehow he knew.

Makoto was waiting there, shovel in hand. All evidence of his despair from earlier had disappeared from his face, although Sousuke doubted that the pain was gone. Makoto was being strong for all of them, so they would all respect that. Once the two of them were alone later, Sousuke would comfort him again, but not now.

“You brought them, I knew that you would,” Makoto said, his eyes falling sadly to the remains on Rin in Sousuke's arm, “Haru and I got this ready... We thought about burying Rin with this dad, but somehow this seemed right...”

“Rin would be happy with this choice, I think,” said Gou, “This place always meant so much to him. Thank you for doing this.”

“You're always welcome,” Makoto replied. Then he turned to Chiyo and added; “We went ahead and dug a space for your friend as well. Unless there's somewhere else that you'd rather bury him?”

“...N-noo... th-thisss is g-g-good...” said Chiyo, looking to Kisumi to further explain, since Chiyo still wasn't the best with talking at length.

“Hibiki was American,” Kisumi told them, “He'd only come to Japan a few years before the outbreak to live with Chiyo while he attended university here, since they were childhood friends. So there isn't anywhere in Iwatobi that meant a lot to Hibiki, I'm afraid. And going back to the barn or their old apartment in Sano would be too dangerous now.”

“Then he can share this space with the Matsuoka family,” said Gou, “I'd like that for him.”

“...Th-thaank y-youu...” Chiyo said.

He then crouched down to lower Hibiki into one of the holes, next to the ones that that Rin and Mrs. Matsuoka would be buried in. It was time for Sousuke to do the same for Rin, so he went across to place him into the hole that was marked with his name. Makoto helped ease him down and Sousuke appreciated that. Next to them, Isuzu and Gou did the same for Mrs. Matsuoka.

Then it was time to cover them over. It still felt all too recently that Sousuke had done this for his own parents, but now three more of their fallen loved ones were being laid to rest. These were chapters that needed to be ended – for the dignity of these people as well as for the closure of those who were left alive.

The rest of the afternoon was spent in a respectful, quiet memory as everyone worked hard to bury the bodies. Even Hayato helped out, which Sousuke was glad of. They all needed this to bring them together after the recent events. At one point, Sousuke saw Makoto helping Hayato plant some flowers over Mrs. Matsuoka's grave and, despite himself, he hoped that Makoto could come to forgive Hayato – they'd always been close. It would be a shame to lose that, no matter how badly Hayato had messed up this time.

Once the graves were finished, everyone stayed there for a while. Gou huddled close to Isuzu and Sousuke knew that she was crying. It was good that Gou now had someone who she could be vulnerable around, since Gou was always so strong for everyone else. Haru and Chiyo sat looking over the graves of Rin and Hibiki respectively, with Kisumi sat between them, holding Haru's hand on one side and Chiyo's on the other. Sousuke stood watching over Rin's grave and when Makoto came to join him, Sousuke was the one to wrap his arm around Makoto.

“This is too much...” Sousuke whispered, “How much longer do we have to do this to ourselves, Makoto?”

“...Until we've found peace,” said Makoto. Because that was the only answer he could give.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the dust starts to settle, Sousuke is left with the unfortunate realisation that he just doesn't know what to do with himself when he's not protecting the others. So he sets out to explore and hopefully find a way to keep himself entertained.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while since the last update, but I thank you all for your patience. After I got back from Japan, I had a few other projects to work on for a while. Don't worry though – this series means a lot to me and since Late Supper will probably be the last fic in the main series (there might be a bonus oneshot or two, we'll see) I definitely want to see it through to the end. There's also a lot of soft SouMako in this chapter, so I hope that makes up for the absence.

The morning wasn't as quiet has the ones from the mountains had been. Or at least, the noise was different from what Sousuke was now used to. Instead of waking up to wind howling outside the cottage and the calls of animals in the forest that he'd hunt later, he awoke to the sound of raiders talking outside as they went about their daily lives.

He awoke to the sounds of society and Sousuke might never be used to that again.

Next to him, Makoto lay in his usual tangle of limbs, looking blissfully at ease. And that was always what would win Sousuke over. Above everything else, if being here meant the safety of Makoto and the others (at least for now), then Sousuke would accept that. Having a home for just the two of them wasn't a bad bonus, either. It had been a long time since they'd truly had privacy to this extent.

Having Sousuke loom over him seemed to stir Makoto awake. As much as Sousuke felt guilty for rousing him, he was glad that Makoto's instincts were as sharp as always. As he looked down, Makoto blearily blinked the sleep out of his eyes, giving Sousuke a tired, but content smile.

“Good morning...” Makoto mumbled.

Sousuke reached down to kiss him, since first thing in the morning was a good time to catch Makoto. The contact lasted for a moment, before Sousuke pulled back.

“Good morning to you, too,” he said, “How do you feeling this morning?”

The events of yesterday were still fresh in their minds, but Makoto hadn't wanted to talk about it last night. This morning, he seemed more ready. Sousuke waited for Makoto to sit up, resting himself against him before he answered.

“I feel better than I was, I think... No, I definitely feel better than I was,” Makoto admitted, “There's still a long way to go, but I feel like we're heading somewhere. Last night I thought I'd have horrible dreams of all the people we buried, but instead it was peaceful... I feel peaceful.”

“They'd have wanted that,” Sousuke agreed, “But they're not the only ones. We'll have to go back in there for the others at some point.”

“And we will. But I feel more prepared for it now,” said Makoto, “I don't agree with what Hayato did, but perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. I feel better being able to lay my family to rest than if a stranger had done it.”

“When you put it that way, I see what you mean,” Sousuke said.

“Besides, if this is what Hayato was hiding, then it's over now. We can trust him,” Makoto went on. The optimism in his voice was obvious and clearly directed at Sousuke.

“Hmm. I'll believe that when I see it,” Sousuke muttered, “But you're right that we've at least managed to get his plans out in the open early this time. Which means all we have to worry about now is the compound coming to smash this place to the ground. And that will happen. No matter how many raiders he gathers to this place.”

“But for right now, we're safe,” Makoto calmly replied.

“Only temporarily,” insisted Sousuke, “Look, I don't want to be the doom and gloom of the group – although why break the habit of a lifetime? - but when our time here runs out, we've got nowhere else to go. We've come too far to just... roll over a die.”

“You'd never do that, Sousuke. All of us know that, but especially me,” said Makoto, resting his head on Sousuke's shoulder and looking up at him coyly, “Maybe it's time to accept that you've got some free time before this danger hits and you just don't know what to do with it. You're so used to protecting us and providing for us that it kind of bothers you when you don't need to do that.”

“Th-that's not it...” Sousuke protested.

Although they both knew that was it.

“If you're sure,” Makoto hummed, turning his head to suck lightly on Sousuke's shoulder, “But if you are looking for something to do... then I think I could help out.”

Sousuke let out a soft moan. Oh yes... Makoto was definitely feeling better this morning.

***

The sun beat down on the early afternoon and Sousuke had to admit that there was a spring in his step as he walked. How could there not be? Makoto had... very thoroughly demonstrated some of the benefits of having a house to themselves.

But the two of them couldn't stay in bed together all day (unfortunately), so they'd finally gotten up around lunch time to make a move. Makoto had gone to check on Gou, possibly to decide when they'd be going back into the zombie enclosure to find Rei and Nagisa. But that felt like something that should be discussed between the old Iwatobi Swim Club, so Sousuke had headed off into town instead.

Because as much as he hated to admit it, Makoto was right that Sousuke just didn't know what to do with himself. He could make himself useful to the revolution's efforts, but he didn't feel like signing up to Hayato's newest cult just yet. What Sousuke had always been the most concerned with, was providing for his family. He just needed to figure out a different way to do that than stopping zombies or compound guards from tearing into them.

Despite his best intentions to avoid it, Sousuke's feet had eventually led him to the former Iwatobi High building, which had now been repurposed as the hub of Hayato's activities. According to Kisumi, Hayato lived here as well. It was just like old times, with Hayato being so married to his job at the facility lab that he rarely came home. Only this time, he'd made his place of work into his home. Two birds with one stone, Sousuke supposed.

He made his way inside, mostly because no one had told him he wasn't allowed in yet, and as he walked through the corridors, various raiders greeted him cheerfully. Sousuke tried to be pleasant in return, remembering Makoto's advice that these people wouldn't treat him like an enemy if he didn't act like one.

After some wandering, he found a staircase and headed up to the higher floors, where there weren't so many people wandering around. In fact, on the top floor it seemed very quiet indeed. The only noise that Sousuke could hear was... something running in a room further along. It sounded like plastic skimming across a metal track and Sousuke couldn't quite place what the noise was. His curiosity compelled him to go look.

The sight that greeted him in the room was... a town? A scale model of Iwatobi and Sano, at least what they used to look like before the outbreak, with an electric model train running between them in a circuit that was definitely fancier than the actual rail route between the two towns had ever been.

Sousuke was so confused by this that he didn't know how to react. He just stared, not even realising right away that he wasn't alone in the room.

“Oh! Hello... Um, you're... Yamazaki, right?”

He looked up to see... the pilot guy. The one who'd rescued them from Tokyo. Damn, what was his name again?

“Yeah. But just call me Sousuke. You're... Daisuke?”

“Daichi, but close enough,” Daichi said.

“We've had this conversation before, haven't we?” Sousuke asked.

“Yes, we have.”

Damn, well... that was awkward. It wasn't Sousuke's fault this kid was just so unmemorable though. Thankfully, the room had provided him with the perfect change of topic. He gestured around at the giant model that took up most of it.

“Is this yours?” he asked.

“It is!” Daichi proudly announced, his chubby face lighting up at the possibility that someone had shown interest, to the point that Sousuke instantly knew showing interest had been a mistake, but he listened all the same; “I've been making it ever since we stabilised this place and I think it's juuust about near completion. Of course, I don't know how accurate it is, since I'd never been to Tottori before the outbreak, but Hayato's been giving me advice and I took some liberties on the railway, since I mostly wanted this for the trains, if I'm honest.”

“You made all of this...?” Sousuke asked, looking across the town, which admittedly was impressive. There were so many tiny, intricate details that Sousuke would've assumed it came from a model shop. He couldn't help but acknowledge the work that had gone into it. Even so, Sousuke was still Sousuke; “...Are you sure this is a good use of resources?”

They had a power generator. For the first time in years, Sousuke lived somewhere with electricity. He could turn a light on in the evening and cook food in an oven. But this kid was running a toy train around a little town he'd made out of, well, possible construction supplies.

“It's not at all,” Daichi replied, not sounding offended if he was, “But it makes me feel human, so for me... this is worth it.”

“Makes you feel human, huh?” repeated Sousuke, “Just sitting alone in a room with your toys. I mean, if I was engaged to your fiancé, then I'd want to avoid him as well, but don't you think there's better ways to feel human than this?”

“Not better ways, just different ways,” said Daichi, “With all due respect, Sousuke, when I was barely even ten years old, the world as we knew it was taken from me. Before that, I lived in a piss-poor children's home, where I'd be lucky not to have the crap beaten out of me every day for being the little, fat kid. After that, all I knew was training to be a pilot, because that was the use they had for me. So forgive me if now that I have some freedom, I want to waste my time fiddling with some art supplies.”

Ohhh, so there was some snark in this guy after all! Suddenly Sousuke found himself warming to him a bit more.

“Right, right, my bad,” he said, “And I'm sorry for insulting your boyfriend as well.”

Daichi shrugged; “He cheated on me plenty of times back in the compound, you don't have to justify talking trash about him to me.”

Maybe Sousuke shouldn't ask. But he did.

“Then why do you put up with that? I mean, I could barely remember your name, but you seem like a nice guy. You're clearly skilled enough to fly a helicopter and you made all of this. Plenty of artsy people out there would be into that. Has Hayato seriously tricked you into thinking that you can't do better than him?”

“No, there's no trickery involved,” assured Daichi, “I know that he's not perfect and that sometimes he takes me along for a ride, but... my life was boring before him. And it was boring after he left the compound, too. Losing him was like a hole through my chest. So I put up with his crap, so long as he makes life interesting for me. And I know he won't cheat on me again.”

“You sure about that?” Sousuke pressed. He didn't think that he could personally ever forgive someone who cheated.

Daichi's face turned red; “I'm s-sure... our relationship isn't as, um... unbalanced as you might expect. And that's as much as either of us want you to know about that...”

“You're telling me,” agreed Sousuke, “I knew Hayato since he was born, so keep those details to yourself.”

He was never going to get used to Hayato being in his... twenties? Maybe even thirties now? But that was partly because Sousuke in turn didn't want to accept that he himself was getting old – the white was starting to overtake the black in his hair these days...

“All right. So... what did you come up here for?” Daichi asked, snapping Sousuke out of his woes about age.

“Mostly just to see what I'd find,” Sousuke confessed, “Though I wouldn't be surprised if you had several more rooms with model trains in them at this point.”

“No, this is the only one. But the rest of this floor is our home. So maybe it'd be a bit strange for you to wander around up here,” said Daichi, “Unless you wanted to see Hayato, but he's out somewhere right now.”

“Probably chatting with more zombies he shouldn't be,” Sousuke said.

“You mean your two friends?”

“No, the ones from that enclosure. You know... like how we brought some of our families back to bury yesterday?”

“Yeah, I heard about that. Hayato was quite shaken, but I hope he wouldn't have need to go in that place without you guys to protect him,” said Daichi.

And here this guy thought that Hayato wasn't keeping things from him. Cute.

“Anyway, I'd rather he wasn't around, if I'm honest,” Sousuke said, “The truth is, I was bored and looking for something to do. Guess I should be envious that you've found a way to keep yourself occupied in your downtime.”

“Maybe, but I can already tell you don't find this sort of thing interesting,” Daichi replied, “But then again... I just might have something else for you. Here, let me show you something I rigged up in one of the rooms up here.”

Against his better judgement, Sousuke was intrigued.

***

“Sousukeee... where are we going?” Makoto laughed, his eyes covered by Sousuke's hands as the two of them awkwardly ambled along a corridor.

“You'll see,” replied Sousuke, immensely enjoying this, “No peeking, Makoto.”

“I already know we're in the school, you can't hide that much,” said Makoto, “I think I know this place better than you.”

“Not any more, you don't. Okay... now you can look.”

He took his hands away from Makoto's face and stepped to aside, letting Makoto take in the room that he'd led him to. It had been a hall for the dance students once and even now, dance was at the heart of its focus. Although Daichi had redecorated it a lot since he got here, since apparently dance was something that Hayato was into. The walls of the hall pulsed with soft fairy lights, some of which looked like they'd been salvaged from Christmas decorations, and a large disco ball rotated overhead, speckling the floor with it's pattern. The curtains were drawn, leaving the room to look somewhat romantic, even by Sousuke's bad judgement.

“This is beautiful...” Makoto gasped, “Did you set all of this up?”

“I wish. Nah, a friend just lent it to me for the afternoon,” said Sousuke, “Thought we could make use of it. Take some time to just... be human.”

Maybe dancing with his partner wasn't any less pointless than making model trains was, but Sousuke knew which one he preferred. Like Daichi had said, there were no wrong answers to how to spend your free time, just different ones.

“Well, I've never been great at dancing, but with you... I want to try,” Makoto said.

Sousuke walked over to a small stereo in the corner of the room, various piles of CDs lying around it. The stereo looked like it got a lot of use. He took out the classical music that had last been played and instead put in a CD of power ballads. ...Hey, Sousuke knew what Sousuke liked, okay?

Thankfully he didn't get too many objections from Makoto as he made his way over to take his hand. The two of them moved across to the centre of the room and swayed softly together. They were both awkwardly tall and neither of them had any idea what they were doing, but as long as they could be with each other, they were fine.

“We can pretend this is the high school dance we never had,” Makoto hummed.

“Makoto, we both made it through high school before this shit went down,” Sousuke reminded.

“Sure, but I never got to dance with you back then,” said Makoto. He pressed forward to kiss Sousuke on the nose, smiling sweetly when he pulled away; “You'll have to thank your friend for lending us this place. I'd like to come here again.”

“Yeah, I'm sure he won't object to that. The guy seems like kind of a drip, so I'm sure he'll let us have it whenever,” Sousuke replied.

“Oh, that Daichi guy who Hayato's with?” Makoto guessed.

The poor kid really did have a reputation.

“That's the one. I thought he was annoying at first, but he seems decent enough,” said Sousuke, “He can do better than Hayato, that's for sure. You know, he didn't even know about... about Hayato going to see... the zombies...”

...Oh snap. Something had suddenly hit Sousuke like a ton of bricks. Why hadn't he thought of it before?

“Well, that must've come as a surprise to him,” Makoto said, suddenly looking concerned, “Is everything okay, Sousuke? You look distracted...”

“Yeah, everything's fine. Just thinking back on stuff,” Sousuke dismissed, spinning Makoto around to keep them both busy.

Sousuke hated not being completely honest with Makoto and he knew that Makoto could tell, particularly after the night when he'd followed Sousuke into the zombie enclosure. But when it came to Hayato, Sousuke was worried about becoming the boy who cried wolf if he accused him too many times. He wanted to be sure there was something wrong before he worried Makoto. And right now he couldn't be.

But Sousuke had realised in that moment that there had to be something else, something other than his visits to the zombies. Because what had tipped Sousuke off to the fact that Hayato was hiding something was Daichi's reaction to Hayato saying that he wasn't hiding anything. But Daichi didn't know about Hayato visiting the zombies. So that meant...

...Hayato was hiding something else. Damn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of advertising, in case any of you are interested in the other Free! Projects that I've been working on in the meantime.
> 
> I recently completed a piece for the For The Team Zine, a zine focused on the many different friendships within the series. My piece was focused on the Hidaka Swim Boys – Asahi, Haru and Seijuro. And this zine truly does have something for everyone, with so many characters included in beautiful art and fics from all across the fandom. Pre-orders are open until 31st December 2018 and all money raised goes to charity, so please check it out if you think that's something you might be interested in:
> 
> https://fortheteamzine.bigcartel.com/
> 
> As well as that, I've been working on a collab fic with the wonderful AmberGalaxy, who's been Trail Mix's biggest supporter for a long time. The fic is called 'Barrel of Monkeys' and admittedly it's completely different to this one – based in the canon universe, after season 3, and starring the beautiful mess that is Kisumi, Hiyori, Ikuya and Asahi. If you think you're up for trying something new (and maybe we can sell you on some ships you might not have considered before), please do check it out.
> 
> Other than that, I've been working on various fandom exchanges. The MakoHaru Flash Bang 2018 is over now and my piece, No Stars in the City, has been posted along with beautiful accompanying art by Firsi. And there's two more upcoming exchange pieces that are due to be posted in January – one of them includes SouMako, so that might be a bit more relevant to the interest of Trail Mix readers.
> 
> Well, that's all for now. Wish me luck in finding a good balance between all my projects so I can bring this series to the conclusion it deserves.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sousuke and Isuzu find an abandoned truck and decide to investigate it, wary of what its contents could bring to Iwatobi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas! Hope you all enjoy Sousuke experiencing this waking nightmare. Poor sod.

As much as Sousuke wanted to be there, it wasn't his place to be. So he waited, loyal as ever, while Makoto, Haru and Gou set about to bring Rei and Nagisa to their final resting place. Those three had talked about it and decided that, in the absence of any living family to make that decision for Rei and Nagisa, the only people left who could make that choice were the Iwatobi Swim Club. They'd been friends for long enough and had been through a lot together. And honestly Sousuke agreed with them – if you couldn't rely on your friends to lay you to rest in this new world, then who could you rely on?

Or perhaps it was merely for the benefit of the living that they'd become so insistent on burying their own. The zombies knew nothing now, but giving them some dignity in the end made those who survived feel better about it.

Either way, Sousuke didn't feel there was any harm done. So he'd nodded along to their plan and then let the three of them head back into the enclosure to find Rei and Nagisa. It was difficult for Haru, but it seemed that each time he successfully went in and out of that enclosure, it gave him the courage to try again. He got a little stronger each time. Sousuke presumed that Chiyo being able to stay around Haru, despite Haru being the one who'd bitten him, had encouraged Haru in turn to try harder to resist his urges around the Iwatobi zombies.

Hayato had shown Makoto, Haru and Gou into the enclosure, which was where they'd parted ways with Sousuke. After that, Hayato had silently left to return to whatever other business he had. Sousuke considered following him, since he still felt that he needed to investigate Hayato and while the others were busy elsewhere that could've been a good time to do so. And yet as he watched, Hayato quickly became surrounded by other raiders. No, whatever other secrets Hayato had, he wasn't going to reveal them while everyone was watching. Sousuke knew how Hayato worked. At least in so far as this.

So that was why Sousuke waited. Although he knew that he'd be waiting a long time. Even after the bodies had been brought out of the enclosure, they'd need to be taken to the cherry blossom tree and buried in the graves that Sousuke and Makoto had prepared the previous day. That also felt like something the Iwatobi Swim Club should do together. It wasn't that Sousuke didn't like Rei or Nagisa, but he hadn't known them well enough to feel right taking part. The others knew that they had Sousuke's support and that was what mattered.

He wandered through the streets, as he so often did. One option was going to the school building to talk to Daichi in his model train room. For all Sousuke had turned his nose up at Daichi's seemingly dull hobby, Daichi himself could be interesting to talk to. But Sousuke just couldn't shake that Daichi knew what Hayato was hiding and that limited how much Sousuke could trust him. Daichi had admitted to staying with Hayato because he liked being taken along for the ride, after all.

Thankfully, it seemed as if Iwatobi itself provided someone completely free of suspicion for Sousuke to talk to. Someone who he could probably do with getting to know better than he did.

Isuzu Mikoshiba had also been left while the others went into the enclosure, although she'd busied herself with helping out the raiders. Like Gou, Isuzu had dived head first into aiding the revolution. But unlike Gou, Sousuke didn't know Isuzu well enough to tell her that this was a bad idea.

Still, Isuzu was clearly someone who was important to Gou, so by extension, she was someone who would be important to Sousuke. He spotted her doing some checks on the wall to make sure it was as secure as they needed it to be and went over to talk to her while she wasn't surrounded by other raiders.

“Hey... You need a hand?” Sousuke offered.

Isuzu turned to him and cocked an eyebrow; “Thought you didn't get involved in this revolution stuff.”

She was sharp. Sousuke couldn't deny that.

“I don't as a rule, but keeping Iwatobi strong is good for all of us. If zombies break down the wall they won't care whose side I'm on,” Sousuke replied.

“That logic's as good as any. So sure, grab a hammer and give me a hand with this,” said Isuzu, carrying on with her own repairs as Sousuke joined in, “But honestly there haven't been too many zombies around lately. I came from Tokyo and on the way here it was the same story everywhere. Less and less zombies every day.”

“The compound have been working fast with that cure,” Sousuke agreed, “Makes me wonder how you think you can beat them, especially after seeing the evidence for yourself.”

“It's more like I won't forgive myself if I don't try. We've all worked hard to survive after the outbreak, I don't want some cowards to take that away just 'cause they've got clipboards and deeds rights. Who's needed a court of law since the outbreak anyway?” said Izusu.

Sousuke paused thoughtfully for a moment, the silence punctuated by the sound of hammering nails into wood.

“Haru was taken to a court back in the compound. They decided that he wasn't human, even though he was right there telling them that he was. That isn't any kind of justice I want a part of,” he said.

“So you agree! That's why I don't get why you won't join the revolution, if you feel the same way about the compound,” said Isuzu.

“Because I don't feel that way about that whole compound, just the people in charge. I've been there, Isuzu, I've seen that the majority of the people living in that compound don't know what's going on. All they believe is that the compound is working to make Japan safe for them again. Many of them don't even know there's survivors that stayed behind here,” said Sousuke, “They're not evil and I can't personally say who has the most right to this land between you guys and them.”

“Did you feel that way when the cure forced you to leave your cottage in the mountains? Gou told me about that,” said Isuzu.

“We chose to leave.”

“Would you have done that if the cure wasn't a thing?”

“Probably not, no.”

Although honestly, that wasn't a fair comparison anyway. The people who had once lived in that cottage were long dead. Sousuke might not have felt the same way if they suddenly turned up asking for the cottage back after Sousuke and the others had been living there on-off for over a decade.

“I like talking with you, y'know,” Isuzu said, seemingly out of nowhere, “Everyone here is so gung-ho about getting back at the compound and I feel that way, too. But you make me think about stuff. You're an odd one, but there's nothing wrong with that.”

“I'll, eh, take that as a compliment,” said Sousuke, “Hey, so... since you moved in with Gou, has everything been all right?”

But Isuzu didn't answer that. Had Sousuke walked into unwanted territory?

“Isuzu?”

He turned to look at her, but Isuzu's eyes were on something else. She was looking over the wall and into the distance, where the road disappeared into trees and mountains. Sousuke followed her gaze and straight away, he saw what she was looking at.

Something had appeared there. Just within sight of the compound, they could see the front of a large truck. It was stationary, but it hadn't been there long and that led to questions.

“I'm guessing you don't see a lot of those?” Sousuke asked.

“No, not one that big. A lot of raiders steal vans from the compound, but that's a full-sized truck. It'd take a lot of fuel to run that,” Isuzu answered, “Whoever drove it here probably isn't your everyday ragtag raider.”

“Better let our guards know then,” said Sousuke.

But before he'd even finished speaking, Isuzu had hopped over the wall and landed with a heavy thud on the other side. She stood up and waved back to Sousuke.

“Nah, no need to put them at risk. Besides, I want first dibs on the good stuff. See you later, Yamazaki!”

With that, Isuzu was running off towards the truck, Sousuke haplessly watching her go. He wasn't wild about the other raiders claiming the truck for themselves either, but this was foolhardy. Sousuke looked around for someone to warn, but there was no one nearby. And by the time he'd found someone, Isuzu would've reached the truck at the speed she was running.

Sousuke swore and made to go after her. He couldn't vault over the wall as effortlessly as Isuzu had done (damn his shoulder...), but he climbed over and steadily made his way down to the ground, making note about how easy it would be for someone to do the same from the other direction. They'd have to work harder in future to make sure this wall stayed strong.

Once he was down, Sousuke ran for the truck. Isuzu had already reached it and was checking the cab by the time he'd arrived.

“Anything?” he called up.

“Nah, seems empty. But this thing didn't drive itself here,” said Isuzu.

“Best be on our guard then.”

While Isuzu checked the cab, Sousuke walked around the side of the truck, checking the trees on the roadside as he did. This felt like an ambush. There was no way it could be anything else. All was quiet, but that only made Sousuke even more alert. After several minutes, no one had jumped out at them, but that didn't mean anything.

“Can't see anyone,” he said, once he'd come back around to the cab, “Any ideas?”

Isuzu climbed down to stand with him, her previous eagerness having been replaced with caution. She looked to the trailer and Sousuke couldn't help but be curious about that as well.

“It could be... a bomb,” she said, “I've seen that happen before. But the truck's not close enough to the town to make an impact. I hope.”

Shit...!

“We need to find out. We need to know how much time we have and then try to move this thing if we can!” Sousuke ordered.

The two of them ran around to the back of the truck, the silence deafening. Suddenly, every second mattered. When they'd reached the back, Isuzu rapped on the shutters with her knuckles.

“They're not dropping zombies on us, we'd have heard them in the truck,” she said.

Honestly, between zombies and a bomb, Sousuke would take the zombies. At least he knew how to deal with those.

“Let's get this open...”

They hadn't come prepared, so neither of them had a crowbar, but it seemed as if the trailer wasn't locked anyway. Whoever had left this here wanted it to be opened. But why would they leave their potential bomb so easy to access and possibly disarm?

The answer came as soon as they pulled the shutters up. Several bodies slipped out onto the road, knocking them both off their feet. The trailer was full of them. When Sousuke looked up, he saw it was piled high with dead bodies. All of them were fresh. He'd never seen anything like it... For a moment, he just stared up at them in horror. But then the realisation hit him.

“The bomb could be buried under them! We have to find it!” he yelled.

“There's too many of them...!”

That... that was the terrible truth. It could take them hours to go through all these bodies as just the two of them and if there was a bomb, then who knew how much time they had until it went off.

“Then we have to go get help. You go to the guards, they trust you as one of them. I'll... start searching,” Sousuke said.

There wasn't a second to waste. Isuzu pulled herself out from the bodies that had fallen on her and made her way back towards Iwatobi. Which left Sousuke with the gruesome task of trying to find a bomb amidst bodies. He'd never actually seen a bomb before, but he hoped that he'd know what he was looking for. The only small mercy was that there were no zombies in with the bodies – they'd have made themselves known before now if there were. Everything inside the truck was as still as, well, a grave.

The stench was foul. Sousuke held his breath as best he could. But the worst part of all was that as well as being fresh, these bodies clearly weren't infected. They were people, not zombies. They were all... raiders. Ones who'd been recently killed and stuffed into the back of a truck.

Who could do this? Sousuke didn't want to pick sides, but he knew that whoever had done such a thing to countless people was his enemy.

He barely knew where to start. If there was a bomb, then he assumed it'd be more towards the back of the trailer, where it'd be harder to reach. But that was exactly the problem. Sousuke would have to push past so many bodies just to get to the back. The more he climbed, the more nauseous he felt. These were people... These were people... He kept repeating that over and over in his head. Each face was a different person, stone cold, but still fresh enough to only be a few days old. He gritted his teeth, wedging his hands between them and trying to push the bodies to aside. They were heavy, but unresisting.

It was hard to know how much time had past before Isuzu returned with the raiders. Each second seemed to take too long. When Sousuke turned his head to look out of the trailer, he was greeted by faces that contained the same horror that he imagined his own did. They were sickened. No one should have to see this.

“G-get in there and help him out... Pull out as many of the bodies as you can!” Hayato called.

So Hayato was one of the people who Isuzu had brought with her. Which made sense, given that he was the leader. Upon his demand, the raiders started pulling the bodies out of the trailer, checking each one for a potential bomb as they did. Sousuke noticed that Daichi was amongst those checking the bodies and of course, Isuzu herself.

Between them, they completed a task that Sousuke could not do alone. The clear instructions helped the work go faster and soon enough, the trailer was empty, bodies lying on the road all around them.

But no one had found a bomb.

“Hey! I know this guy!”

It was Isuzu who called out. Sousuke and Hayato hurried over to check what she'd found and upon taking another look at the body in question, Sousuke realised that he'd seen this person as well, although he didn't know his name. The man was much older than Sousuke remembered, but his scruffy hair had remained black and his face was grizzled.

“He was... some sort of coach, wasn't he?” Sousuke said, as Isuzu rolled the body over, “I think he took an interest in Haru back before... well, everything.”

Isuzu nodded; “His name was Azuma. I guess he was someone who survived the outbreak as well, but... not any more.”

“Have you checked his body?” Hayato asked.

Normally, Sousuke would sneer at Hayato's insensitivity, but he did have a point this time. They were looking for a bomb, so there wasn't a moment to waste.

“I'll do that now... Give me a hand, okay?”

Isuzu seemed shaken, which made sense after finding someone she recognised. So Sousuke bent down to help her, but it didn't take long. There wasn't a bomb, but inside the pocket of Azuma's jacket was a folded note. Isuzu took it out and read it out for them all to hear.

“These are all raiders who stood against the cleansing of the land. They didn't make it to your revolution and now they never will. We'll kill everyone who tries. Give this up before more people needlessly die. Yours... Christine Whittle,” Isuzu read out. She crumpled the note into a ball and threw it onto the ground; “That heartless creature! These people were our allies and now they're... they're...”

“...Dead,” Sousuke finished, “And they won't be the only ones. Dammit...! I knew that councilwoman wanted to win this, but she didn't seem this bloodthirsty back in Tokyo...”

“Maybe she's trying to take back what's hers.”

Daichi had appeared behind them while they were talking. He looked resigned.

“That's enough, Dai,” Hayato scolded, before turning to face the others, “...These are scare-tactics. There isn't a bomb, we've seen that now. And while what the compound has done to these people is despicable, it's all the more reason why they need to be stopped. If we hand ourselves over to her, we'll end up like this. Don't be fooled into thinking that a person who could do this would ever show you mercy.”

There was uncertainty amongst the raiders, but when Isuzu spoke up, all doubt disappeared. She smacked her fist into the palm of her hand and nodded.

“Shigino's right! Seeing this makes me want to stop the compound even more. They're evil, they're killers and I won't bow down to them!” she roared.

That got the crowd going. They were crying out in approval now, demanding revenge. And Sousuke realised that his talk of the harmless people taking shelter in the compound wouldn't be well-received here. He looked around the faces of the revolution, feeling more alone than ever before.

His eyes fell on Daichi, who was still glaring at Hayato with what Sousuke would call uncharacteristic annoyance. Something had happened here. Daichi knew something that the others did not – Sousuke was now more certain of that than ever before.

He made his way over to Daichi, but Hayato cut him off before he could get there, walking across and putting his hand on Daichi's shoulder.

“Dai, we need to give these people a proper burial. It's the least we can do. Let's gather up the rest of the revolution and tell them what's happened here,” said Hayato.

“As you wish.”

With that, Sousuke's chance to talk to Daichi was gone. At least for now. There was too much going on and Sousuke agreed that these poor people deserved dignity in their death. So for once, he joined in helping out the raiders, not looking forward to explaining to his family what had happened here today. That coach had been someone who Haru and Makoto had known. It was never nice to break that kind of news...


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After breaking the news about Azuma's body to the others, Sousuke takes Haru aside and requests his help with a little snooping. After all, if there's one person who distrusts Hayato as much as Sousuke does, it's Haru.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year! One of my new years resolutions for 2019 is to finish writing this series, so wish me luck in achieving that.

It was much more crowded under the cherry blossom tree than Sousuke expected to find it. And he meant with graves instead of living people. Sousuke counted them in his head – there were the graves for Rin, Mrs. Matsuoka and Hibiki, from when they'd first ventured into the zombie enclosure to bring them back, and from today they had been joined by Rei and Nagisa, who'd been placed together in the plots that Sousuke and Makoto had dug out for them. But there were more than those five graves. As Sousuke walked amongst them, his eyes fell on the names written on each makeshift plaque.

“Ai...” Sousuke whispered.

“We brought them all back,” said Makoto, as he came to stand with Sousuke, putting his hand on his shoulder, “I'm sorry... I know you might've wanted to bury Nitori yourself, but we... we can't keep putting ourselves through this, Sousuke. So today, we rescued as many as we could and buried them here.”

“Chigusa's here as well,” Gou said, “It's funny... I always used to feel bad that I stopped hanging out with her as often in school, but I told myself there'd be time in future. Until suddenly there wasn't any time left...”

“None of us could predict the outbreak,” said Makoto, “We can only do the best we can.”

So the cherry blossom tree had become a graveyard. With the others being joined by Rei, Nagisa, Ai, Chigusa, Coach Sasabe, Miss Amakata and several people who Sousuke remembered from Samezuka. A small community of people who'd been taken so suddenly...

...Yet in the spring, the cherry blossoms would fall and perhaps it wouldn't be so bad. Rin would appreciate that, Sousuke told himself.

He cleared his throat, ready to deliver the bad news.

“There might be one more person to join them,” he said, turning to look at Haru, “Your Coach Azuma. We... found him today. Actually nah, I've got to tell you all the whole story. There was a truck that the compound left outside the walls and when we went through it, the thing was stacked with dead bodies.” Here, Makoto made a small gasp. Sousuke let him have a moment before he continued; “The worst part was, they weren't infected – these were living raiders who'd been killed and stuffed in a truck. We had to check it for a bomb... There wasn't one, but we found Azuma. Isuzu reckons he's been living as a raider in Tokyo. I'm sorry, Haru...”

As always, Haru took a moment to respond. When he did, he gave a creaky nod of his head, before looking up at Sousuke through his one remaining eye.

“...I d-didn't knoow... h-hiiim we-lll... But... h-hee waaas a... g-g-good coooach... I'm n-not sur...priiised he surviveeeddd... so l-longgg...”

“There was a message from that councilwoman as well, basically telling the revolution to give up now if they don't want more people to die. Anyway, Isuzu's helping Hayato and the others with the rest of the bodies from the truck now,” said Sousuke, “Hayato's arranging a space to bury everyone, since they can't all go here. But I asked for Azuma to be brought here, since I figured you'd want that,” Sousuke said, “I'll stay here and dig out the grave. Looks like it's my turn after all the hard work you guys have done today.”

Makoto rubbed Sousuke's back, before pulling his hand away; “Take as much time as you need. We're all here for you, Sousuke. I'm here for you...”

“Thanks, Makoto... I'm glad that you are.”

The fact that Makoto was letting him do this stood as a testament to how much they understood each other now. At one point, Makoto might've worried about Sousuke doing this on his own, but he knew when Sousuke needed time, just as Sousuke knew the same of Makoto. They would be reunited later, but for now, Sousuke wanted to do this.

Haru, on the other hand, did not grant Sousuke the same respect. But Sousuke had been banking on that.

“...Heee w-waas myyy... c-c-coachhh... I'll beee... paa-art of th-thisss...”

“No one said you couldn't,” Sousuke snorted, before nodding up to Makoto, “I'll stay here with this ugly mug to get the grave dug out ready for when they arrive. Think you can drop in to see Kisumi on the way back and explain why one of his zombies is out late?”

Makoto tried to hold back a smirk at that description; “Sure, I want to tell him about all of this anyway. Best to keep him in the loop.”

“And I'm going to head across to find out more about this truck. You never know what else the compound might be up to,” said Gou.

Only in this case, they did have half an idea an idea. They wanted to claim Iwatobi for themselves. But the compound weren't the only people who Sousuke was worried about. He waited until Makoto and Gou had headed off, grabbing a shovel to start digging in another patch of land near the tree as Haru did the same. The two of them worked in silence for a few minutes before Sousuke spoke up again.

“I don't trust Hayato,” he stated.

Because Haru was possibly the only person who'd understand him about that and wouldn't write him off as being paranoid.

“...Go onnn...” Haru said, ready to listen.

“He's keeping something from us,” said Sousuke, “Which is hardly the newsflash of the century, but I think it might be something big. When we first got here, it was that Daichi's reaction to Hayato saying there wasn't anything else he needed to tell us that made me suspicious. At first I figured it was the zombies and that he was going to talk with Makoto's family, but Daichi didn't know about that.”

“...So wh-aaatever it... isss... it c-caan't have been th-thaaat...” said Haru.

“Exactly! You get what I mean. And to add to that, when we were at the truck before, Daichi made some comment about Christine wanting to take back what's hers, but Hayato silenced him. That could be nothing, but I just don't know.”

For a few moments, Haru continued shovelling, but it was clear that he was deep in thought. When he spoke again, he voiced the question that Sousuke couldn't figure out the answer to.

“...Wh-whaat do we h-havee... thaaat b-beelongss... t-to heeer...?” Haru asked.

“I don't know. Maybe he just meant Iwatobi as a whole, since she seems to feel like she owns Japan now. But I can't help thinking it has to be more than just that. And maybe that's the same thing that Hayato's been hiding from us,” said Sousuke, “...Or at least I hope it is. Because I don't know how many more secrets I can take from this guy.”

“...He doesss... h-havee a lot... of th-theemm...” Haru agreed, “...A-aand I t-takee it... y-y-yoouu wo-oouldn't... bringgg th-thisss up... un...less youuu haave... a plaa-aann...”

“Nothing as solid as a plan, but there's something I want to check out, yeah. Look, I'm not trying to be insensitive or anything, but whenever there's zombies around, you know about it.”

“...S-sousuuuke... if I w-waaasss offeendeed... by y-you beiiing... insensitiiive... th-then I'd haaave bitten y-youuu yeears agooo...”

“Right. Thanks for the vote of confidence. Anyway, usually with Hayato it's zombies, so I thought that if he was hiding any more around that base of his, you could... sniff them out?”

“...I'm g-g-goooinggg to... b-bite youuu n-now...”

Sousuke jumped, which resulted in one of Haru's rattling zombie laughs. He cursed himself for falling for that, but let Haru carry on.

“...S-suree... I'll beee y-yourr... sniiiiffer d-dog... B-but I d-didn't... p-piiick upp on a-any...thing... when weee f-fiiirst went... thereee...” said Haru, “...In faaact... th-thee c-closerrr we goooot... the b-better I feelt... to be a-awaaay from the e-enclosuuure...”

“It won't hurt to double check,” Sousuke insisted, “Maybe whatever he's hiding isn't there, it could be somewhere else. But that seems like a good place to start.”

Haru didn't reply and at first Sousuke wasn't sure why that was, but then he heard voices and promptly shut up himself. It was Isuzu and some of the other raiders, bringing Azuma's body to lay to rest. Haru climbed out of the hole they'd dug and went to greet her, their discussion coming to a halt on that note. But he'd agreed to help Sousuke and that was the important part. For now, it was time to let Haru bury his dead and grieve as he needed to.

***

It was a few days later before Sousuke and Haru could set their plan into action. Every second wasted felt like too long to Sousuke, but they just hadn't been able to do this before now. All of Iwatobi was on edge after word got around about the truck. No one knew when the compound would strike next, but they probably wouldn't wait long, despite Hayato's insistence that the truck was merely a scare-tactic.

On the plus side, that meant there were a lot more people going to patrol outside Iwatobi now, since even if there hadn't been a bomb, the possibility of one was too great to ignore. Sousuke had waited for a time of day when Hayato, Daichi, Gou and Isuzu were all out patrolling, which gave them a better shot of checking the Iwatobi High building without being disturbed.

They'd gone under the guise of Haru taking some broth Kisumi had made for Hayato, but Sousuke could tell that Makoto suspected that wasn't the only reason they were going when he'd raised his eyebrow at Sousuke's insistence to go with Haru.

“Gets me out the house for a while, doesn't it? Aiding the revolution and all that,” Sousuke joked, hoping he'd come across as casual.

“Just don't turn the whole school upside down when you search it, Sousuke,” dismissed Makoto, a grin on his face.

Sousuke turned very red as he walked away. There truly was nothing that he could get past Makoto. It didn't help when Haru sniggered along in agreement. Those two truly were partners in crime. But on the other hand, this meant that in Makoto's own way, he was accepting that Sousuke was going to do this and he wouldn't try to stop him. Sousuke felt better knowing that.

When they reached the school building, Haru got some funny looks, but no one stopped them from going inside. It was just like last time – the revolution knew that Sousuke was part of Hayato's family, so they assumed he was approved to be there. Sousuke was hardly going to tell them otherwise.

They didn't waste time on the lower floors, because Hayato wouldn't keep his secret in full sight of the revolution. So unless Iwatobi High had a hidden basement (and Haru didn't seem to think that it did), they were heading upstairs. That was where Hayato lived, after all.

The two of them walked along the corridor, with Haru stopping briefly to look into the room with the model trains inside.

“Don't think there'll be anything in that one,” Sousuke said, “That's Daichi's nerd shit room or something. He made that model of the town by himself... Huh, come to think of it, maybe you and him might get along pretty well.”

“...H-hee seeems... n-nice enouughh... wh-when Haaayato briiings h-him... to ourrr h-hoouse... B-but I diiidn't k-knooww... a-abooout any...thiiing like th-thisss...” said Haru.

Sousuke could see that Haru was intrigued by the intricate model, showing Daichi's best guess at what Iwatobi looked like before the outbreak. Honestly, Haru could probably help Daichi make the model more accurate, But Sousuke didn't have time to lose Haru to model trains. So he kept walking and soon enough, he heard Haru's footsteps behind him.

The rest of the rooms didn't seem to hide anything that cast doubt onto either Hayato and Daichi. Many of the classrooms had been converted into the sort of rooms that would be expected of a house – a bedroom, a living room, a kitchen, even a bathroom. There seemed to be several rooms set aside both for Daichi's art and whatever science projects Hayato was working on, but Sousuke hated to admit that he didn't understand science well enough to know if there was anything out of the ordinary there.

As they reached the end of the corridor, Sousuke let out a long sigh that seemed to echo down it.

“You're not picking up on anything? No zombies?” he checked.

“N-no zom...biiies...” Haru confirmed, “...Unlesss... he's f-fooound a... w-waay to hiiide them... e-evenn frooom mee...”

“Nah, I reckon that'd be too much work for him. He didn't know we'd be coming to Iwatobi when we did, so I doubt he'd be that prepared,” said Sousuke, “Besides, he doesn't seem to have any other reformed zombies to test anything like that on.”

“...Ughhh... I h-haate th-thaaat t-termm...”

It wasn't great, but whether Haru liked it or not, reformed zombies seemed to be the term that had caught on to refer to them. But after Hayato's research was shut down back at the facility, it seemed likely that the other reformed zombies he'd found had been put to death... Meaning that Haru and Chiyo were likely the only ones who were left, at least in Japan.

“No zombies then. Whatever he's hiding even isn't zombies or isn't here.”

“-You're right with the first one.”

That voice... Sousuke turned to see that they'd been caught. By Daichi, of all people. Somehow the kid had managed to sneak up on them. But he didn't look annoyed. In fact, he looked tired. Something that Sousuke could understand, honestly.

“I thought you were patrolling today,” said Sousuke, not bothering to hide the fact that he knew they'd been caught.

“And I thought you guys were dropping off some broth, so I guess neither of us were where the other thought we'd be,” said Daichi. He looked over his shoulder to check that the coast was clear before he carried on; “Look, I can tell there's no stopping you now that you've got the scent of something. You're not going to let it go.”

Sousuke nodded; “You're right about that. I hate throwing this family into disarray, but Hayato doesn't seem to care about that and everyone's safety has to come first. I know you know something, Daichi, so tell me... is it something we need to be worried about.”

“Oh hey, you remembered my name this time. And unfortunately... it is,” Daichi said, massaging his temple before he continued, “Usually with Hayato I'm up for whatever wild plans he comes up with. But this one just seems dumb, even for him. It's been a nightmare having to hide this for so long... It's definitely the reason why Christine Whittle is breathing fire.” He looked up at Sousuke, expression resigned; “If I show you what he's been hiding, would you pretend you overpowered me or something?”

Sousuke and Haru exchanged glances and tried not to laugh. They'd been living out in the wilderness for years – Sousuke was still pretty jacked and Haru was a stealthy hunter. Between the two of them, they wouldn't have any trouble overpowering a meek pilot who'd lived in a sheltered compound for most of his life.

“I think we can manage that,” Sousuke replied.

After all the anticipation, Sousuke was willing to agree to a lot just to find out what Hayato was hiding. If it was too much even for Daichi to overlook, then it had to be something.

“Follow me, then.”

Daichi walked past them and opened the door that led out onto the roof. Admittedly that would've been Sousuke's next suggestion to check, even if Daichi hadn't shown up. They headed up a flight of stairs, coming out into the cool afternoon breeze that drifted through on the flat roof. This was actually quite nice... If not for the foreboding situation, being here would almost be pleasant.

“...I m-missedd th-thisss...” said Haru, “...W-we useed t-to... comeee heereee...”

But they didn't have time to take in the scenery. Daichi was leading them to a storage shed that looked like it had been cordoned off, with a large paddock on the door. It sounded like there was something moving inside...

It wasn't zombies. Daichi already said that it wasn't. A brief shake of Haru's head confirmed this. And for a moment, as Daichi moved to unlock the door, Sousuke worried that it might be some other horrific project that Hayato had been working on. At this point, Sousuke would believe anything.

But as the door was opened, what was waiting inside was...

...Just a person?

A prisoner. Someone who'd been chained up to the back of the shed. There was an empty bowl on the floor next to him and he looked to not be in great shape. At first Sousuke didn't recognise who it was, despite the face seeming familiar. The guy was short and it looked like his shaggy hair had once been green, but the dye was fading out. Who was this? Why did Sousuke feel like he'd met him before?

“...Youuu...!” Haru growled.

Clearly he'd been quicker on the uptake than Sousuke was. The guy chained up in the shed looked up, his face twisting into a cruel smirk.

“Well, well, well... looks like Fatty finally caved and showed off Hayato's little secret. Ohhh... he's not going to be pleased with you, Daichi. Was this really worth putting your future marriage on the rocks over?”

“Just shut up already,” Daichi muttered, “If it was up to me, I'd have you gagged.”

“Then thank goodness my dear, _sweet_ Hayato is more merciful than you are. He takes good care of me, even after everything. _He wouldn't **shoot me at fucking point blank** in the leg, like some people would...!”_

The prisoner's voice became high and hysterical at the end. And suddenly, it all came back to Sousuke in a flash. Someone who Daichi had shot in the leg... it was that scientist from Tokyo! The one who'd held them captive when they'd taken the cure to him. Daichi had come to their rescue on that day. Without him, they'd probably all be dead right now.

Sousuke surged forward, grabbing this guy by his collar and pulling him up as far as the chains would let him. Flecks of spit flew out of his mouth when he spoke. Sousuke was livid.

“You were the one who sold us out! You sold all of Japan out! Hayato trusted you to do the right thing, but you took that cure for yourself and then tossed us aside like nothing. You held Haru like he was just some animal!”

“Y-you mean like how you're all doing to me now?” the scientist squawked.

“Knock it off, Boney, no one's feeling sorry for you here,” Daichi said, having stood back to watch all of this unfold in front of him. As Sousuke turned to look at him, Daichi went on to answer Sousuke's questions before they could even be asked; “...This is Dr. Hewitt Whittle, but Hayato just calls him Boney. You might remember him from... all that bullshit over a year ago. This guy is the biggest sack of crap I've ever met. And more importantly... he's Christine's son.”

Christine Whittle's son...! Hayato was holding hostage the son of the most powerful person in the new age of Japan.

Fuck.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hayato takes Gou and Isuzu out to check on Sano as the compound comes ever closer. While back in Iwatobi, Kisumi talks with Makoto about life here and thoughts about his own future.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Switching up the 'one narrator at a time' rule as we get into the final act. But don't worry, we'll be back to ol' Sousuke and his woes soon.

These machines were so cheaply constructed... When Hayato had originally designed them, he'd had durability in mind. He'd wanted a solution that would halt the zombie problem for years to come, something that could be reliable and maintained when needed. But the compound had sacrificed durability in favour of quick and easy production. They didn't care if a few of the cure machines were destroyed, because they could fast make more.

And they were making more. They were getting closer.

“Sano...” Gou said, summing up exactly what Hayato was thinking with just one word.

“They're practically on our doorstep,” Hayato replied, because someone had to say it.

Right now, it was only the three of them – Hayato, Gou and Isuzu. The revolution had to be spread out thinner in light of the bomb scare, but Hayato felt better knowing they were covering more ground. He did not feel better knowing that cure machines were being setup in Sano, as much as Isuzu seemed to enjoy destroying them.

He held up his walkie-talkie and pressed the button, but as he expected, there was nothing but static. They were too far away from Iwatobi to get a good signal. Which was a shame, because as well as being unable to inform anyone of their findings, Hayato could really do with talking to Daichi right about now.

Things had been strained between the two of them after reading Christine's letter. It was proof that she was coming for her son, just like Hayato knew that she would. To Daichi, it was all the more reason why keeping Boney hostage was a bad idea, but to Hayato, it felt that Boney was their only bargaining chip. Once Christine had Boney back, there'd be nothing stopping her from wiping out Iwatobi, killing the last remaining raiders and starting again on the ruins of the old town. Iwatobi was too precious, it couldn't be destroyed.

Perhaps Hayato was being foolish, perhaps he was actually afraid that this would all be for nothing, but he was at the helm of this revolution – he had to be strong so that everyone else would believe, so that they would bring out the best of themselves and follow him in turn. If they wanted to win, then Hayato had to make them see that they could. So he banished all of those fears from his head and made himself believe just as hard as they did.

...But when they were alone at night, sometimes he'd just hold onto Daichi and cry. He hadn't been able to do that lately.

“You ever think about expanding our own walls?” Isuzu said, cutting into his thoughts, “If they can do it, so can we.”

“Maybe we'll have to, if more raiders keep arriving. There's only so much space in Iwatobi,” Gou added.

At the moment, raiders were arriving in flocks as the compound chased them out of their old homes and word of Iwatobi got around. But eventually, the influx would dry out. People would stop coming. There'd be no more people to come.

“I'd like to do that.” This was what Hayato said out loud. “Sano is the next logical step to take control of – it might be a ghost town now, but there's plenty of buildings that we could use. Besides, it has sentimental value for some of us.”

Hayato, Kisumi, Gou, Sousuke and Chiyo had all originally come from Sano.

“But we can't focus on building while everyone's on high alert. We have to protect the borders we already have and that stops us going anywhere else. Christine knows that,” said Gou, finishing the thought.

Isuzu kicked the remains of the cure machine in frustration. The sound echoed, but there truly was no one else to hear it now – even the zombies would now be gone from Sano because of the machine.

“Who is she anyway?” Isuzu demanded, “When I lived in Tokyo, we always gave those compound scientists and their guards a lot of space, but I figured they were just hopeless nerds trying to find an answer.”

“They were. And they did find an answer – this is it,” said Hayato, gesturing down to the machine, “The full story is a lot more complicated than that, so I won't bore you with the details, but I believe that Christine Whittle thinks she's doing all of this for the benefit of the people. Just that the people who've chosen to follow her are the only ones who count.”

“I've met her once before,” said Gou, which was news to Hayato, “It was a long time ago, back when the infection first broke out. I was travelling with some other survivors – Chiyo was one of them – and we reached a city where she was evacuating people. I think that was the beginning of the compound. But there was just something off about her... so I'm glad we decided not to go with her.” With that, she stopped to look at Hayato; “She had a son who looked about your age. Wonder what happened to him. Bet he turned out pretty messed up, being raised by someone like that.”

Oh boy. Better steer clear of that subject.

“That sounds like Christine all right. I used to work under her council, so I met her numerous times,” Hayato said, “It was always under formal pretence. My research was often under fire, so I'd have to justify myself to her from time to time. Haru actually came to a hearing with me once, to prove that he was human... An awful thing to have to do in the first place, but I really thought we were getting through to her. She seemed so... reasonable back then.”

Back before she had the power to save the world and Hayato started holding her son hostage.

“Well, she's obviously not now. If I see her, I'll give her a Mikoshiba-style wakeup call!” Isuzu said, “Anyway, all this talk is boring. I don't want to understand a madwoman, I just want to stop all the bad stuff from happening. Do you think there'll be any more of these machines around here?”

Isuzu was like no one who Hayato had ever met before. He was glad that she was on his side.

“Their radius doesn't cover that much ground, so I bet there'll be more of them,” he said, “If we start at the perimeter of the to-”

“-Great! Let's split up and get smashing!”

Before Hayato could even protest, Isuzu had charged off. He didn't envy anyone who got in her path, machine or otherwise.

“She's... spirited. We need that,” he said.

“You don't have to pretend with me, I know she's reckless. That can be a good or a bad thing. But she's stayed alive this long mostly on her own and that's the kind of raider we need,” said Gou.

“Sounds a lot like you,” Hayato replied, “And you've been a valuable asset to the revolution from the moment you arrived. But... you do know that the others don't trust me, right?”

Given that Sousuke was Gou's childhood friend and that both Haru and Makoto had once been on the same swim club as Gou in high school, he figured that she'd listen to them over Hayato, who had just been some kid brother of Gou's brother's friend once upon a time.

Gou patted his shoulder.

“You're trying to do something. I'm sick of waiting around, watching people I know get infected or killed. We can't hide forever, as much as Sousuke wants to. From where I'm standing, you're the only person even offering an answer that isn't just giving up to the compound,” she said.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“You're welcome. Now let's split up and search around. There's obviously no one else here, so-”

“...There could be people here. These cure machine didn't grow out of the ground. The compound has been here, recently, and they might not have gone very far. Just because we can't hear them, doesn't mean that we're alone,” said Hayato, “I'd prefer it if we stuck together.”

Gou nodded; “You're lucky I'm not as hasty as Isuzu. If we come across her again, we can try telling her that, but I don't think she's in any danger.”

“Neither do I. She's too tough for that.”

With that conviction, the two of them set out to trudge through the streets of Sano. It wasn't difficult for Hayato to figure out likely places where they'd find the cure machines. He knew exactly how far their radius spread and between the two of them, they knew the streets of Sano well enough to guess which buildings they'd be placed in. They even found one in the old Yamazaki Store. Best not tell Sousuke about that. They just quietly dismantled it and went about their way.

If they'd had more people with them, Hayato would've insisted on salvaging the parts, both so they could be repurposed and to stop the compound from finding them and rebuilding the machines. But they couldn't carry the parts back just between the three of them. They'd only come here in a small van and there wouldn't have been space for everything.

Hours past and after so much time, Hayato felt satisfied with their work. He nodded to Gou. They'd be unlikely to find any more machines today. But in future... who knew?

“I think it'd be best to come back here with more people tomorrow, before they have time to repair,” he said, “Even if we can't afford to gather so many people in one place, this is important.”

“You can radio them the update on the way back. I'll go find Isuzu and we can head home. Just wait here, I shouldn't be long,” Gou replied.

They hadn't see Isuzu all day, though they'd seen enough destroyed cure machines to know that she'd been working hard.

Hayato climbed into the van and watched as Gou disappeared to look for Isuzu. They were on the edge of Sano, so perhaps they would get signal here. With that in mind, Hayato tried the walkie-talkie again.

“This is Hayato Shigino. Do you copy? Over.”

At first there was no reply, so Hayato gave up without too much worry. It would work again once they got closer to Iwatobi and then Hayato would be able to update everyone on the situation in Sano. But just as he sat back in his seat, the walkie-talkie crackled into life.

Was it Daichi? Hayato sat up with a bolt. But the voice he heard was even more alarming. It was Kisumi.

“-yato? Anyone? Are you there? Please help us! They've got helicopters an- ...Chiyo, nooo!”

The voice cut out after that. But it was all that Hayato needed to hear. He grabbed the walkie-talkie and jammed it back on.

“Kisumi! Can you hear me? Tell me what's going on!”

Only static.

He had to leave now. Perhaps it was already too late, but if they could just get back to Iwatobi...! Oh god, what was happening to Kisumi?

Hayato opened the van door and yelled.

“Gou! Isuzu! We have to leave! Kisumi's in danger!”

Gunshot.

A scream.

One that sounded like it came from Isuzu.

***

The beach was so peaceful that you could almost trick yourself into thinking that it was just any normal day in any normal world. For a short while, Kisumi could pretend that he'd lived a full life, surrounded by people achieving all of their dreams and living happily together. But perhaps that wasn't fair. Kisumi had lived a full life, even if it wasn't always one that had been filled with happiness. And he'd found love... If their situations had been different, would Kisumi and Haru have ended up together? He didn't know the answer to that.

Yet he could tell that Makoto wasn't relaxing, no matter how calming the lapping of the waves against the shore were. For Makoto, it wasn't the right time to be at the beach.

“You could've gone with them, if you're so worried,” Kisumi pointed out.

Makoto sighed, “Maybe I should have done. I trust them, but Sousuke and Haru enable each other at the best of times. This isn't the right place for them to be playing detectives. What if Hayato catches them and kicks us all out?”

“You're asking what if my brother kicks us out?”

“Kisumi, I didn't mean, um... to imply anything.”

“It's fine, I know how you all feel about Hayato,” said Kisumi. A lot of the time he pretended that he didn't know, because he wished that everyone could get along, but Kisumi wasn't as oblivious as everyone seemed to think; “...But he wouldn't get rid of us or do anything to harm them. Everything Hayato's doing is for our sake, even if it doesn't seem that way.”

Makoto went quiet and Kisumi could tell that he didn't agree, but he couldn't think of a nice way to say so. It was a shame... at one point, Hayato had idolised Makoto and it seemed as if the two of them had been starting to see eye to eye more when they travelled to Tokyo together, but finding out that Hayato had been talking to Makoto's infected siblings had set them back to square one. As would be expected... Even if Hayato's intentions were good, that didn't mean that his actions weren't stupid sometimes. The Shigino brothers had that in common...

“How have you been finding it here?” Kisumi asked, to change the subject and get Makoto out of this awkward situation.

“It's actually been nice,” admitted Makoto, “I hate to say it, but this town just... works. Getting to have our own space is a blessing, there's heat and electricity. If not for the threat of the compound, it'd almost feel like a good life. What about you? How have you been finding living with Haru and Chiyo?”

As Makoto asked this, Kisumi looked further along the beach, to where Chiyo was sitting quietly looking out to sea. The infection had changed Chiyo so much. He'd once been almost as sociable as Kisumi, but now he struggled to talk, so he mostly chose not to. Thank goodness he'd had Haru to guide him as, well, an experienced reformed zombie.

“I think this is the best we can hope for. Things might not be perfect, but I like it. I wouldn't ask for anything more than just getting to be with the two of them,” Kisumi answered.

Then came the usual pause that followed whenever Kisumi touched upon his situation with Haru and Chiyo. He waited to see if Makoto would ask the question that Sousuke didn't. But to no great surprise, Makoto skirted around it.

“It's nice that you and Haru can accommodate him. But do you ever think that... um, do you ever think that it'll be just you and Haru again?” Makoto asked.

“When has it ever been just me and Haru?” Kisumi replied, letting sadness seep into his usual positive outlook for a moment. He reached forward and started to draw in the sand with his finger as he spoke. He drew himself and Haru standing next to each other; “...We got together under such stranger circumstances and then we were on the run. Then Haru left with you all to take the cure to Tokyo and I thought about him every day... I was just glad he came back. After that, the two of us set out to find Chiyo and when I think about it, that was the only time that it was ever truly just the two of us, at least for a while.” He went on to draw another figure standing next to Haru – a large, buff figure that was meant to be Chiyo; “...But you know what? I don't mind. Even if the three of us spend the rest of our lives together. Because one day, well...”

Kisumi stopped here and let the ocean tell the rest of his story. The waves lapped in, so close to where the two of them were sitting that soon enough they'd have to move their towel back. It was already soaked through. But Kisumi stayed there until the waves had washed away the figure he'd drawn of himself. Only Chiyo and Haru remained.

“Kisumi... you can't think like that...” Makoto whispered.

“Thank you for worrying, but I have to think like that,” Kisumi insisted, “Even if I live the longest life I can, eventually my time will run out. But as far as we know, theirs won't. They'll just keep going indefinitely until they get shot through the head or s-something equally awful happens to them. Th-they could live forever, Makoto, and I don't want them to be alone...”

He got to his feet and offered a hand out to Makoto, who took it and pulled himself up.

“That's so sad...” said Makoto, “I'm sorry that it has to be that way. That you and Haru won't get to grow old together.”

“I'm sorry too,” Kisumi admitted, before giving Makoto a sly smile, “But anyway, why don't you ask the question that you've all been dying to ask? I won't be angry, even if you tell Sousuke or anyone else. I'm not ashamed of myself – Noriko told me that I shouldn't be.”

“Geez, way to put me on the spot...” Makoto muttered. He glanced over at Chiyo, but if he could hear them, then he wasn't making any signs of it. There was also no one else on the beach. Now was as good a time as any. So Makoto took a deep breath and finally asked, “...What's the deal with the three of you? Are you... together?”

There it was. The question that Kisumi didn't understand why it had become such a big deal. He put his hand on his heart and closed his eyes.

“I love Haru... and I love Chiyo. I believe that they could love each other as well, that they're already on the way to it. Perhaps our arrangement is a strange one, but it makes the three of us happy and in this messed up world, isn't a bit of happiness the best we can ask for? We're not harming anyone...”

He waited for a while. His eyes were closed, so he couldn't see Makoto's reaction. Perhaps he didn't want to see it.

“...That's kind of what I thought,” Makoto eventually said, “Thank you for being honest with me, Kisumi. But I won't tell the others if you don't want me to.”

Kisumi opened his eyes and smiled; “I don't mind either way. Though it has been fun to watch Sousuke squirm as he tries to fight back the temptation to ask.”

“You're so cruel,” Makoto laughed.

It felt like a weight had been lifted between them and Kisumi was glad to have gotten this off his chest, even if he'd never intended for it to be a secret. The tide had come in enough to wash all three of Kisumi's figures away now, but that was fine. He didn't need to illustrate it any more. Instead, he bent down to pick up the soaking wet towel.

“Ack... I guess we were pretty reckless with these, huh? No matter, I'll hang them out to dry when we get home.”

It was probably about time to head back anyway. The afternoon was creeping in. Hopefully Sousuke and Haru had found whatever they were looking for and, even if not, Kisumi was glad that he'd kept Makoto's mind away from worrying about that for a little while.

He looked over at Chiyo, ready to call across to him, but then Chiyo got to his feet. He was looking at something in the distance. And when Kisumi turned back to Makoto, he was doing the same.

“Is everything okay?”

Kisumi followed their gaze and when he did, he saw what it was that had commanded their attention. Black specks in the distance of the skyline, moving closer in a uniformed pattern. It was helicopters.

The revolution didn't have helicopters. At least not any that worked.

“Shit! We have to alert everyone!” Makoto swore, “There's some people left, isn't there?”

“I think so... Hayato wouldn't take everyone with him,” said Kisumi, “There's raiders on the gate and I've seen some around. Let's hurry!”

He nodded to Chiyo and the three of them sprinted off the beach, practically grabbing the first raider they came across. She was an elderly woman who looked alarmed by their panic.

“Is everything all right?” she asked. Her eyes moved to Chiyo. People were still wary of him and Haru.

“No, everything isn't all right,” Makoto answered, “The compound's coming! They've flying in! You have to let everyone know.”

He gestured to the sky towards the beach and even after only a few minutes, the helicopters seemed closer than before.

“Oh my goodness... R-right! Right away! I'll let them all know!”

“What about Hayato? Can you get in touch with Hayato?” Kisumi asked.

The raider shook her head; “He left for Sano this morning, we won't be able to radio him from that far away.”

“Let me try!” Kisumi begged.

She passed her walkie-talkie to Kisumi. His hands were shaking, but he managed to hit the button. This was the first time he'd ever used one. He didn't know if this would be a direct line to Hayato or if every raider for miles would hear him. Probably the latter. But honestly, as long as the message got out that they were in danger, the more people who knew the better.

“Hayato? Anyone? Are you there? Please help us! They've got helicopters an- ...Chiyo, nooo!”

As Kisumi watched, Chiyo launched himself at one of the nearby raiders. For a terrifying moment, Kisumi worried that Chiyo might've reverted back to his zombie ways, but it had happened too quickly for that. Chiyo wasn't trying to kill the man, he was wrestling something from his hands. When he got a hold of whatever it was, he waved it back for someone to grab, while keeping the raider pinned.

“...Mack... t-taaake th-thiisss...” Chiyo called to Makoto.

Without needing to be told twice, Makoto rushed across to take something from Chiyo's hand. Then he gasped.

“This is... a grenade,” Makoto said, “Holy fuck... Was he... going to throw it at us?”

Chiyo nodded.

That was all the confirmation that Makoto needed to search the squirming, protesting man. And sure enough, it wasn't the only one on his person. Kisumi could see Makoto's hands shaking as he held them all.

“What is the meaning of this! Where did you get these from?” Makoto roared.

“The compound will welcome me back as a hero!”

They were already here. The helicopters were coming, but their enemy was already here. This had been planned. It was the beginning of the end.

“No one will welcome you anywhere if you go through with this! You've been caught and we won't let you escape,” snarled Makoto, as Chiyo tightened his hold on the guy.

But as his eyes rolled up to the back of his head, the planted compound guard said exactly what Kisumi had feared.

“I'm not... the only one...”

Makoto was knocked back against Chiyo. Blood flew through the air. Kisumi didn't see what had happened, but Makoto was clutching his shoulder.

They were under fire.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sousuke and Makoto manage to contact each other, but neither of them are in safe positions right now. Their enemy is here, Hayato is nowhere in sight and thus they all have to figure out their own ways of dealing with this mess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand we're back with Sousuke again for this chapter. But I'm still going to be switching it up a bit as we go on – there's a lot of people to keep track of, after all.

Sousuke needed a moment to process everything. His head was thumping. Which was partly because that scientist – Boney, or whatever he was called – wouldn't shut up. He seemed to fluctuate between screaming that they were holding him hostage and goading Daichi about how pissed Hayato would be when he found out Daichi had revealed this to Sousuke and Haru.

“You think I won't tell him everything? Because I will! After all your sacrificed to protect him, this one act will betray Hayato's trust in you completely. That's how he works! I know that better than yo-”

Sousuke's hand shot out and clamped around Boney's mouth, squeezing hard.

“You know what the best part is about Daichi telling us that you're here? It's that Haru and me don't give a fuck about what Hayato thinks. We could smash your head in right now and we wouldn't even stop to listen to his whining. So you'd best shut your mouth, because your fate isn't in Daichi's hands any more, it's in ours!”

He let go again and folded his arms, staring down at Boney. For a moment, Boney glared back up at him, but then he looked away. And more importantly, he finally stopped talking. Sousuke turned back to Haru and Daichi.

“Right, so now that we can hear ourselves think, care to shed some light about what's going on here, kid?” he asked Daichi, “I don't expect you to know exactly what's going on in Hayato's head, but surely he must've told you why he thinks this is a good idea.”

Daichi looked down at Boney with contempt in his eyes and Sousuke knew that he hated Boney being here more than anyone.

“Like he said, he's a hostage,” Daichi answered, “He came to us willingly at first. Well, he came to Hayato. I've said it was a trap from the start, but Hayato seems to think that Christine won't attack Iwatobi as long as we have her son here. That truck from the other week says otherwise, though. Her patience has run out.”

“...B-buuut sheee... d-d-diiiidn't... attaaa-aack...” said Haru, “...Nooot thaaat I'm t-takingg... Haaayato's side... but she w-won't b-bomb the tooown wh-whilee... her s-son... isss heeerreee...”

As much as he didn't want to admit it, Sousuke agreed with that. He was firmly on Daichi's side that keeping Boney here was a stupid idea, but would Christine have already wiped Iwatobi off the map without him? She'd had no issue with clearing raiders out of the rest of Japan.

He was about to open his mouth to agree, but then a loud noise got his attention.

“What was that?”

Sousuke and Haru left Boney with Daichi and hurried to the edge of the roof, where it seemed as if the universe was once again determined to prove Sousuke wrong. There were small explosions going off all across Iwatobi. As they watched, they could hear the bangs and the screams coming from everywhere. Sousuke's mouth fell open.

“They've come for me!” Boney cheered.

“Makoto's down there...!” Sousuke whispered, “A-and Kisumi and Chiyo as well! We have to find th-”

A gunshot. From behind them.

Sousuke slowly turned his head, afraid of what he would see. But thankfully it was not one of their own who fell. A man Sousuke didn't recognise slumped down by the door to the roof, bleeding out of his head. Daichi was holding the gun.

“He was a person...” Sousuke gaped.

Killing zombies was one thing, but living people? Sousuke didn't want to cross that bridge unless he absolutely had to. The weight settled on him that this might be the case...

“He's armed and he was aiming for you. If I didn't shoot, we'd all be dead,” Daichi replied, without any mercy.

Sousuke watched as Daichi walked over to the man and took the gun out of his unresisting hands, before tossing it back to Sousuke. There was no time to argue about morals. Not when the others could be in danger.

“Let's... let's go find Makoto,” Sousuke decided, “We need to get everyone together. We need to figure out what's going on. And unfortunately, we're going to have to bring him.”

He gestured back towards Boney, who sat back in the storage shed in response to that.

“Too bad I can't walk after being shot in the leg,” Boney purred.

Sousuke's patience with this guy ran out about five minutes ago. He walked forward and yanked him up. The only thing stopping him from pulling Boney off the floor was the fact that Boney was tied down. Boney yelped in protest, but he was standing on his feet now.

“Then you'll hobble all the way!” Sousuke snapped, “Can we get him untied?”

But Daichi was already busy trying to radio the other raiders. Sousuke gave him some space, since it was important to know what was going on.

“This is Daichi Mizuchi. Update me on your situation. Over.”

What followed was several people all trying to radio through at once, from all across Iwatobi. Everyone was going through the same thing.

“There's helicopters approaching!”

“Those guys who came in last week... they were planted by the compound.”

“Th-they just blasted the side of my house clean off...”

“Daichi! It's Kisumi. Makoto's been shot! Please send help!”

“The zombie enclosure is open! The gate's been damaged. They're... th-they're coming out...”

Sousuke's eyes widened. He let go of Boney and hurried over to Daichi. There'd only been one thing that he'd heard amongst that bombardment of words. He took the walkie-talkie from Daichi's hand and pressed the button down.

“It's Sousuke! Kisumi, please tell me what's happened to Makoto...!”

His heart was thumping. The walkie-talkie crackled into life and Kisumi was there once again.

“There was... there was a guy who was armed. Chiyo tackled him down, but that guy wasn't the only one. A-and Makoto... he's bleeding out of his shoulder really bad and-”

“Kisumi... let me talk to him...” said someone else on Kisumi's end.

It was Makoto's voice! Sousuke could hardly contain himself.

“Makoto! Makoto, speak to me...!” he pleaded, “They're setting off explosions all over the town. I need to know you're okay...”

“I'm fine...” said Makoto. It was an obvious lie; “We're going to head to the school. That's where you are, right?”

“That's right. We'll stay here and hold down the fort. Just... take care, okay? We've got medical supplies here, so if you can make it this far, we can help,” Sousuke said.

“I'm tougher than that, Sousuke.”

“I know you are. And Makoto?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you.”

“Heh. I love you too, Sousuke. Over and out.”

With that, Sousuke passed the walkie-talkie back to Daichi and let out a long sigh. He wanted to talk to Makoto more. He wanted to talk to Makoto forever. But he was in danger and the longer Sousuke held him up, the worse his injury would get. As much as Sousuke had been ready to charge out into Iwatobi and save everyone, the best thing he could do right now was make sure that no one else from the compound got into the school, assuming they weren't already here. This place was Hayato's central hub – it would have the most supplies. It was their best shot.

Sousuke turned back to Boney, who'd now been untied by Haru, but was apparently smart enough to not try to make a run for it. Maybe there _was_ something wrong with his leg after all.

“We take him with us,” Sousuke said, “If he's our hostage, then it's too risky to leave him unguarded. But if he acts up, well, his mother won't know he's dead until after it happens. We can keep dragging his corpse around if we have to.”

“No objections here,” said Daichi.

“...L-let's g-gooo...” Haru agreed.

Sousuke and Haru both pulled Boney up, helping to support him as he limped along. It was more than a year since Boney had been shot, but it had been at point blank, so perhaps he'd never fully recover. Sousuke didn't care if he did. Meanwhile, Daichi walked in front of them, his gun trained ahead. All traces of the bumbling, awkward pilot were gone now, having been replaced by someone who'd do anything to protect them. Even kill, Sousuke added to himself, as they walked past the body of the man who'd tried to shoot them before.

Killing was something that Sousuke struggled to accept, but... well, he understood Daichi a little better knowing how far he'd go to protect them. In that moment, Sousuke realised that he trusted Daichi a lot more than he did Hayato.

They walked down into the school building... into their fort.

***

Makoto clutched at his shoulder and hissed through his teeth. Kisumi took the walkie-talkie from him and passed it back to the raider who'd kindly let them use it. Fuck... Makoto was in so much pain right now, but he couldn't let Sousuke know. That'd only make him worry more.

“We have to move...” he said.

“R-right, but just give me a second... I can bandage this up,” Kisumi whimpered.

“We don't have time!”

Kisumi looked at Makoto sternly; “You'll have even less time if you bleed out and die. Now let me bandage you up.”

“All right... I'm sorry. I didn't mean...” Makoto trailed off.

“It's fine, we're all worried,” said Kisumi, his expression softening.

They hadn't come prepared to deal with such an injury – it had just been a trip to the beach, after all. So Kisumi took a handkerchief out of his bag and dabbed the blood clear of Makoto's shoulder as best he could. It stung like crazy, but Makoto had to bare it. Once the blood was as clear as it was going to get, Kisumi took off his jacket and wrapped it around Makoto's shoulder.

“That should stop the bleeding until we get there...” said Kisumi, “Then someone can get the bullet out. I hope... H-hayato will be able to do that, okay?”

Now was not the time to argue about Hayato's capabilities. So Makoto just nodded and got to his feet. A deep voice called out from behind them.

“...R-reeeaadddyyy...”

Oh yeah, while they'd been talking to Sousuke and cleaning up injuries, Chiyo had been taking out the planted guard who'd shot Makoto. He couldn't bite anyone for fear of creating more zombies, but he was still a brute force all on his own. So he'd easily been able to knock the second assailant out and prop her up against the first. These two wouldn't be the only ones they'd pass on the way to Iwatobi High, would they?

Makoto shook his head. He wouldn't get back to Sousuke with that attitude.

“There's still a lot more raiders here than there are compound guards and the helicopters haven't arrived yet. Everyone's shaken by the explosions, but if we can round up as many traitors as we can, we'll stand a better chance once they do get here,” he said, before turning back to the raider who'd lent them her walkie-talkie; “Please let everyone know that we need to nip this in the bud before the helicopters get here.”

“What about when they do get here?” she asked.

He honestly didn't know. Makoto had never been in this situation before, he was hardly prepared to give out a battle strategy.

“I guess all we can to is cover places where they're likely to try and drop people off. Take them out as they're coming,” he said.

Oh god... Makoto had just advised someone to take people out. B-but those people would hurt them first if they didn't do it... They really had no choice if they wanted to live.

The raider seemed satisfied with that answer, so she let them get on, hurrying off herself to presumably regroup with some of the others. That just left Makoto, Kisumi and Chiyo to make their way to the school. But before they did, Kisumi bent down to take the gun from the unconscious guard. It looked out of place in Kisumi's delicate, pink hands.

“You can't hold a gun in this state, so I'll take it,” Kisumi reasoned.

They had the grenades as well, but Makoto doubted they'd be using them. Too much risk that they'd hurt the raiders instead of the compound invaders. It was just better to take them than leave them here where they could be found and used by someone else.

The three of them turned to head towards the school. It was almost strange – Makoto had walked between the beach and the school so many times when he'd been younger, but he could never imagine doing it under these circumstances. All the while that they walked, he could hear gunshots and explosions from across the town. It was like something out of a movie. But this was Iwatobi... Once just a sleepy, seaside town. Makoto could never have imagined back then what it would one day become.

Their process was laboured thanks to Makoto's injury, but there was something else holding them back. And Chiyo knew it before they did. He hunched his shoulders and snarled ahead.

“...Th-they're... o-oouut...”

The zombies. Someone had said over the radio that the gates had been blown off the enclosure, but Makoto had been too distracted to properly process it at the time. While trapped in the enclosure, the zombies were slow and sluggish, having resigned to the fact that there weren't any living people for them to prey on. But now that they could get out... there were many living victims waiting for them. The zombies spirits were renewed. And they were heading into Iwatobi.

“We have to pass them to get to the school, it'll take too long to walk around them,” said Makoto, “Too much risk of coming across someone with a gun or worse.”

“I'd take zombies over that,” Kisumi said, “We'll just have to be careful.”

“...I'll h-h-haaandlee... th-theeemmm...” said Chiyo.

Because in this situation, careful might not be an option. They pressed on. Makoto watched as Chiyo charged ahead, slamming into every zombie he encountered and tearing into them as he did. Thank goodness they'd got everyone they'd loved out of there before all of this... But even so, Makoto recognised some of the faces as people he'd grown up around. There was nothing that could be done about that. He looked ahead and walked on, clutching his shoulders and trying to ignore it.

The zombies would be drawn to the fresh blood from Makoto in particular. He was the most at risk. So Kisumi stayed close, holding out the gun in his shaky hands, while Chiyo took out as many zombies as he could before they'd even got close. To think, at one point Makoto was wary of trusting Chiyo, yet now Chiyo was his last line of defence against being torn to shreds. Makoto would have to thank him properly if they all made it out alive.

And it was a big if... Makoto still had no idea what had become of Hayato, Gou and Isuzu. Hopefully they'd be in a safe place. But knowing those three, somehow Makoto doubted it.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gou heads back into Sano to find Isuzu, Hayato heads back to Iwatobi to help his brother and Makoto is guided through the town, barely able to keep himself walking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think it's about time I finally delivered on that promised IsuGou, don't you?

Leaving Hayato alone perhaps wasn't ideal, but Gou reasoned that she'd only be gone a few minutes and if anything did happen, the van was probably the safest place for him to be. He wasn't a fighter like the others were, no matter how much he wanted to oversee what was going on, so Gou didn't like having him out in the open. They needed him to lead the revolution.

She knew Sano well. Not only from before the outbreak, but from after it as well. She'd regularly came here for raids and to meet up with Chiyo for trading goods and information back when she'd had her trade post in the forest nearby. So there wasn't anywhere that Isuzu could hide from her, although Gou knew she wouldn't try to be.

Even so, Hayato was most likely right that they weren't the only ones out here or if they were, that the compound had at least been here recently to implant the cure machines. The revolution had patrolled Sano only a few days ago and found nothing here back then. It wasn't part of the revolution's territory, but it was still close enough to Iwatobi that this was unsettling. Just how much time did they have left...?

Gou didn't call out, so not to attract unwanted attention, but it turned out she was the only one who didn't. First came Hayato's voice, from back at the van.

“Gou! Isuzu! We have to leave! Kisumi's in danger!”

Upon hearing that, Gou was about to turn and head back. Hayato must've been radioed from Iwatobi. Something was happening there. But mid-turn, she heard another voice. This time a scream. A-and she knew who it came from...

She hesitated. Kisumi was in danger, she didn't know the details behind that, but he was all the way back in Iwatobi, while Isuzu was right here and clearly in danger as well. There were a lot of people back in Iwatobi who could help Kisumi, but only Gou here who could help Isuzu.

Gou cupped her hands together and called back to the van; “Go on ahead! I'll find Isuzu, okay?”

As much as she didn't like their chances of walking back to Iwatobi without the van given the unseen danger, she couldn't keep Hayato from protecting his brother.

Without waiting for a response, Gou charged ahead, looking about the streets to try and find Isuzu. Where had that voice come from? Isuzu didn't sound like she'd been far away. But Sano had so many narrow and winding side streets... damn this!

“Surround her! Don't let her get away! There's others here with her, I heard them.”

Gou recognised that voice as well. Her blood ran cold. Christine Whittle was here and she knew they were here as well. She had Isuzu on the run.

There was marching. Christine wasn't alone, not that Gou expected she would be. But Gou couldn't let that hold her back. She had to face this head on for Isuzu. And then hopefully when they both made it out, she could contact the others to let them know that the compound was coming. Assuming the compound wasn't already at Iwatobi...

She charged in towards the footsteps. There were guards... no, _soldiers_ combing out into every street. There'd be no getting around them and yet...

...A flash of ginger. It was Isuzu! She was sneaking into a building to hide. Into the Yamazaki Store, of all places. Gou took a deep breath and hurried after her, keeping low and hoping the guards wouldn't spot them. She didn't even speak until she was inside the building, cleared the shop front and was into the corridor that led through to the rest of the house, where Isuzu was resting against a wall.

“Isuzu! Are you all right? What happened out there...?”

As soon as Isuzu saw her, she lurched forward to hug Gou. Isuzu had always been much taller and stronger than Gou, but right now she seemed shaken. Gou wrapped her arms around her, not able to stop herself from looking over Isuzu for injuries while she did, but Isuzu seemed physically fine. The two of them held each other for almost a minute, but that was all they could allow while the soldiers were still marching outside. Hopefully Hayato had got away before encountering them...

“Let's go upstairs. There's a window where we can get a decent view of what's going on,” Gou said, as she pulled away from Isuzu.

Isuzu nodded and walked with her towards the stairs, but it seemed as if she had more to say.

“I know what's going on. This is a trap, Gou. They kept us out here with those stupid machines and now they're going for Iwatobi. I... I'm sorry that I screamed. The last thing you need is weakness like that...” Isuzu trailed off.

“Don't think about it like that,” Gou said, “You're only human, Isuzu. You're allowed to be scared.”

“But I'm supposed to be the tough one...” Isuzu gripped the railing of the staircase tightly; “I've handled street fights, zombies, a few lone guards back in Tokyo, but th-these... these are soldiers. And there's so many of them. Gou, we won't survive this attack...”

“Don't talk like that, we have to survive,” Gou insisted, turning to face Isuzu and only now noticing how pale she looked, “Iwatobi is our last chance. Even if we run, there's nowhere else we could go where Haru and Chiyo could be safe. The cure is everywhere now. We're the last people Christine needs to wiped out before she can start bringing her own people back into Japan.”

Isuzu didn't reply. Which might've been because Gou's words had hardly been hopeful. If there were too many of them to be stopped, then perhaps this truly would be the end. Perhaps all they'd done with the revolution was gather up the last rebels, so Christine could shoot them like fish in a barrel.

Gou gritted her teeth, hating herself for thinking like that, and pressed on. She led them both to Sousuke's parents old bedroom, where they could sit on the ledge of the window and look out onto the streets. The soldiers were still clustered together at the moment, but as soon as they'd fanned out, Isuzu and Gou would have to chance making a break for it.

“We'll head for the forest and use the cover to head back to Iwatobi,” Gou said.

“...Did you ever think about going anywhere else?” asked Isuzu, and when Gou looked towards her in surprise, Isuzu clarified, “I don't mean right now. I mean... before. Did you ever wonder if there was a safe place, if anywhere else was different?”

“I think everyone did,” Gou replied, “But actually, there was a time. In the beginning, I was travelling with Chiyo and his friend, Hibiki. They barely knew me, but they let me tag along. Hibiki was determined to find a plane, so he could get back to his parents in America. Even back then, that felt like a fruitless dream. And it was.”

Isuzu regarded her curiously; “But if it hadn't been, would you have gone to America?”

“Hah. He asked once. Hibiki was a pain in the ass, but he had a nice side. Said that his family were rich, so they could help me start a new life there if I went with him, but I turned him down.” Gou stopped here, allowing herself to think about this impossible future in America – safe, but surrounded by strangers, not knowing anyone except Hibiki and Chiyo; “You know... I think we could've had a thing, Hibiki and me. But we didn't and now I'm glad we didn't. Not just because he died, but... well, it wouldn't have worked out. Hibiki was in love with Chiyo and the outbreak proved that he just couldn't let go of anything. I couldn't be with someone like that.”

“What about someone who only ever loved you?” Isuzu asked. She propped her hands up on her knees and looked across; “Once upon a time, I thought we could've had a thing. But then the outbreak happened and we all had to stop thinking about the past. You could keep hoping forever, but you had to assume people you hadn't found were either dead or infected if you wanted to keep surviving.”

Despite herself, Gou took her attention off the window and shuffled closer.

“I thought that, too. When we met, we really made a connection. But it wasn't long after that when all of this happened and...” Gou wasn't sure what to follow that up with; “...I wish we could be able to live instead of just survive.”

“Maybe we can. If the others can, then why can't we?” Isuzu insisted, pushing so close that she was practically in Gou's face now; “Heck, I'm sure that Shigino is dating both of those zombies. If he can do that, then what's wrong with us just living a little?”

“Just living a little...?” Gou echoed.

She pressed forward, closing the gap between them and kissing Isuzu softly. It felt like everything she'd needed for so long. In that moment she stopped being Gou the raider – a relentless survivor and a key figure in a failing revolution, and once again began to be someone who she thought was long gone, Gou Matsuoka – the young woman in love, the muscle fanatic, someone with a future. She wondered if Isuzu felt that way as well.

When they broke apart, she watched Isuzu's golden eyes flutter open.

“I love you... it's only ever been you,” Isuzu whispered, “No matter what happens today, I want you to know that.”

Gou reached up and put her hand on Isuzu's chest, feeling her heart beating fast. She nodded.

“Isuzu... I love you, too. And that's why we're going to make it out of here today. We're not going to die,” she said.

She felt Isuzu reach up to take Gou's hand off her chest. She gripped it and they held on together. As one, they turned to look out of the window. There were still soldiers, but now that they were more spread out, it'd be the best time to make a break for it. Perhaps they were safe enough here, but neither of them could sit back and watch what was left of their world be ripped away from them.

They would leave together. They would fight together. And when all this was over, they'd stop surviving and start living.

***

“Go on ahead! I'll find Isuzu, okay?”

There was no time to hesitate, but even so, Hayato didn't want to leave Gou and Isuzu. They were in uncertain danger and if Hayato took the van, they'd have no easy way to get back to Iwatobi. He looked at the radio, Kisumi's voice still ringing in his head.

Hayato wasn't any good to Kisumi here. If Gou had told him to head back, then Hayato had to trust she was strong enough to handle whatever was happening. And he did trust that. Gou and Isuzu were two of the strongest people he knew. He doubted the revolution would last without them. Hopefully it wouldn't have to.

So with great reluctance, Hayato started up the engine and pulled away. He saw something in the rear view mirror as he moved, but it wasn't either of the women. A soldier. Shit... they were here. But if they were here, how could they be in Iwatobi as well? Unfortunately, the answer to that was all too obvious. They could fly in. Just like how Hayato and the others had escaped from the compound in the first place. How could he have been so stupid? He trusted that Christine wouldn't try anything while he had Boney hostage, but all of that banked on how much Christine cared about Boney. Apparently not as much as Hayato had thought.

The soldier tried to shoot at the tires, but Hayato was already far enough away and picking up speed. He watched through the mirror as the soldier called to others and knew that it wouldn't be long before he was followed. Hayato had to get back to Iwatobi soon. Thankfully, the drive there was a short one.

As he rocketed down the road, the radio cracked. The closer he got, the more he heard and it painted a picture of panic.

Explosions going off across the town.

The zombie enclosure was open.

Compound guards flying in via helicopter.

Those raiders who'd arrived last week had been planted by the compound.

Hayato blamed himself for that last one. He was so eager to take in as many raiders as possible, both to help them and to buff the numbers of the revolution, that he hadn't checked as thoroughly as he should have done. And all right, the zombie enclosure was his fault as well.

...Actually, all of this was his fault. His hands were trying to shake, but he didn't let them. Hayato clutched the wheel tighter, telling himself that this was the reason why he needed to fix everything. The raiders had put their lives in his hands, as had Hayato's family, so letting them down wasn't an option.

When he reached Iwatobi, the gates were open. People were fleeing the town. Hayato slowed the van to a halt, catching the attention of the guards on the gate, who'd remained as diligent as ever.

“They're coming from Sano, it's not safe to leave. I know it isn't safe to stay, either, but gather as many people as you can at the gates. Root out the traitors. Fight back when you need to. I'll update you as I can,” Hayato told them.

Then he radioed the same thing across town, throwing caution to the wind that the compound would probably hear him as well. The raiders needed direction. They needed somewhere to go. And what Hayato needed was to get Boney, so he could use him to bargain with Christine. At the moment, that seemed to be his last resort.

He drove on into Iwatobi, heading straight for the school. All around him, people were running in a blind panic, but he kept his eyes ahead. The zombies wouldn't have reached here yet, at least, but it wouldn't take them long. Hayato had to get to the school. He had to find Daichi and-

-a house on one side of the van blew out! They had grenades!

The debris smashed through the passenger window and Hayato swerved the van in his panic. It spun around, smacking against a bus stop and coming to a halt.

He could hear the engine hissing, though it was hard to make out through all the smoke rising from it. There wasn't time to check if the van was salvageable. So Hayato opened the driver's door and climbed out. He took a moment to steady himself, but the damage could've been a lot worse, so he counted himself as lucky.

His objective was the same – get to the school. Hayato kept walking, as the destruction his actions had resulted in went off all around him.

***

A lot of people had made it to Iwatobi High. Sousuke reckoned that even if he had nothing to do with Hayato, this would be the first place he'd think to go to find shelter as well. But it meant that the building was crowded on the lower floors and many of the people needed medical aid. What if there wasn't enough left when Makoto got here...?

“We have enough,” Daichi said, as if reading his mind, “You know what Hayato's like – he's kept a backup supply in our quarters just in case. We'll probably go through all of it today, but I'll make sure there's some left for Makoto. Let's just hope he gets here quickly.”

“He will...” assured Sousuke, “Makoto is the strongest person I know. And I know a lot of strong people.”

Daichi nodded, but then he looked down the corridor at the massive crowd and sighed; “There's too many of them. It'd be so easy for some compound plant to slip in here and blow up a lot of us in one go. But I have to keep an eye on Boney.” He turned back to where Haru was currently watching over him and then looked back at Sousuke; “Look, you're worried about Makoto, right? I know that'll be the only thing on your mind. So maybe you could guard the front door. Check everyone who comes through. At least until Makoto arrives. You can get some of the trusted raiders to help you with it.”

Normally Sousuke wouldn't approve of being used as a doorman, but in this situation, Daichi's suggestion made sense.

“Right. Anyone trying to sneak anything in here would need to be an idiot to try and get it past me,” he said, “You guys keep an eye on _whatshisface_ and I'll get back to you when Makoto and the others are here.”

“You really aren't good with names, are you?” Daichi said.

“I remember someone's name when they matter to me, Daichi,” Sousuke replied.

With that, he headed off, pushing through the crowd to get to the front door. He wanted Makoto to be waiting there. He needed to see him so badly...

***

Makoto had already seen more heads be removed from their shoulders in the last hour than he'd ever hoped to see in his life. But they were making progress and he had to see it like that. He cursed himself that he couldn't be more useful. Chiyo was the one taking out the bulk of the zombies and even Kisumi was managing to get a few shots in, but it was hard enough for Makoto to just walk with his shoulder bleeding out and pain rushing through his body.

...It was the opposite shoulder to the one Sousuke had always struggled with. Perhaps if they both made it out alive, that'd mean they'd match. Hah... Makoto really must've been delusional with pain if he found that funny.

“We'll come back and bury them...” Kisumi whispered, as they passed the bodies of those they'd already taken down. Makoto's heart went out to him.

“Let's make sure we all make it through this first,” said Makoto.

Kisumi nodded, but seemed not to trust himself to say much more. He was slightly green and Makoto could hardly blame him for that. Ahead of them, Chiyo had just smashed an elderly zombie into a garden wall.

“We know that Sousuke and Haru are together... so they'll be fine,” Makoto reasoned, “The others will all know to head to the school as well.... There's the walkie-talkies, so they can keep in touch with each other. I'm sure that Hayato will come back as soon as he knows what happening.”

Hayato might've been a lot of things, but he wouldn't abandon his family. They took more laboured steps, Makoto's vision drifting in and out with each one. Not far now... Not far now...

...Damn, he wished they'd kept that walkie-talkie that the raider lent them before, but she probably needed it.

“...W-we'ree... paaaassst... the w-w-worst... of th-theeemmmm...”

That had to have been Chiyo. His words were often even harder to make out than Haru's were sometimes, but Makoto knew that wasn't his fault. In fact, maybe it was due to Makoto's state that he was struggling to understand. But he got the message – they'd made it through the zombies. Chiyo and Kisumi had done it. While Makoto was little more than a dead weight.

But getting through the zombies didn't mean they were out of the woods just yet. In fact, the worst of the danger was probably ahead of them. Zombies were slow and predictable, even when they were determined for flesh. But people with guns and grenades? They were much riskier to deal with.

“I think they're all heading for the school, let's follow the crowd,” Kisumi said.

Makoto couldn't even manage a nod. He saw people rushing past them and they had guns, but they weren't aiming for Makoto, Kisumi and Chiyo, so that must've meant that they were on their side. Hopefully they were going back to deal with the rest of the zombies that Chiyo didn't manage to take out.

“Not far...” Makoto murmured, sounding more as if he was willing that to be true than stating an actual fact.

“No, not far,” Kisumi replied, pressing he hand against Makoto's chest to stop him from falling over.

It was awful... Makoto actually hadn't felt too bad at first, considering that he'd been shot. But even with Kisumi's shirt stopping the worst of the bleeding, the more blood he lost, the worse he felt. Each step felt like a great effort.

If he just... lay down for a while... If he just slept...

“Makoto! Don't fall! J-just hold on a little longer...!”

Kisumi's voice jolted him awake again. Makoto didn't know if he nodded or made any other indication of a reply, but he kept going. Now that Chiyo didn't need to take out the zombies, he went to Makoto's other side and hitched an arm around him. Makoto's entire weight was being supported between Kisumi and Chiyo.

He looked in Chiyo's direction and gave a vacant smile.

“...I've seen you c-carry Haru before... Can't you just... carry me...?” Makoto asked.

“...H-h-haaarrruuuu... is s-smaaaalleerrrr...”

“Hah.”

Makoto wasn't sure who should feel more insulted by that – Haru or himself. But with getting a free lift from Chiyo sadly ruled out, he kept on going. The path ahead... he knew it off by heart. He knew it inside himself, even when he could barely see it. He'd walked this way half-asleep in his childhood, but never while semi-conscious and being supported by two other men, one of them a zombie.

“...So close...”

The path leading out to the school. He could see it... He could hear the people all around him. Would Nagisa, Rei and Gou be there, to tell him what was happening at swim practise? Would Haru already be swimming in the pool?

“Makoto! Makoto, please hold on!”

...That voice...

...It was Sousuke...

And with that, Makoto blacked out.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Makoto needs to wake up, Gou & Isuzu need to find a way home and Hayato needs to get back to his hostage before anyone else does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little personal note here – as of this chapter, the Trail Mix series has become the longest fanfic project that I've ever worked on, just beating a fanfic series called Grasping Liquid from my previous fandom. I was surprised when I saw it was getting close to this being the case, because Grasping Liquid always felt like it was longer. When I started writing Trail Mix, my focus was on writing shorter, sharper chapters, but I suppose after so long, all of those add up. However, Grasping Liquid is still unfinished. I hope to give it a conclusion after I finish writing the Trail Mix series, so it's still uncertain which of these two projects will actually be the longest. But at the time of posting, Trail Mix holds the title.

Haru was pacing. He could hear the noise from the floors below, but it was still mostly quiet up here. People seemed to respect that the top of the school was Hayato's private quarters, but if they ran out of space downstairs, then surely they'd have to let people up here.

As Haru walked around the room, Daichi kept his eye on Boney and his gun trained on him as well. Yet as much as Haru hoped it wouldn't be the case, if Boney did try anything, then Haru's quick zombie reflexes would make short work of him. Those same reflexes picked up on Daichi shifting his weight to look out the window, even before Daichi said anything.

“....Someee...th-thing... wr-roong...?” Haru asked.

“I don't know,” said Daichi, “It looks like- ...wait, yes, it is! They've made it here! I can see them coming through the gates, but... Makoto doesn't look too good. I'm not sure if he's awake...”

That got Haru's full attention. He raced across to the window, where he saw that what Daichi said was true. It was hard to make out the details from this far up, but Makoto, Kisumi and Chiyo were difficult to miss. From what Haru could see, Kisumi and Chiyo were supporting Makoto, who was limp between them.

“...M-makotooo...” Haru whispered, his voice coming out as a rattle.

“You should go to them. You'll go mad with worry if you have to stay up here not knowing,” Daichi said, “Don't worry about this guy, I can keep an eye on him. Trust me when I say that I won't hesitate to shoot if he acts out.”

Haru nodded. From what he'd seen of Daichi, both today and back in Tokyo, he didn't doubt that the boy could handle himself. Leaving anyone alone in a hostage situation wasn't ideal, but Daichi was right that Haru would only keep worrying about the others until he knew what had happened. If Makoto was... i-if it was too late, then Haru couldn't live with himself if he dawdled in another room and didn't get to see his closest friend at the end.

“...O-once I knoww... whaaat'sss... haa-aappeniiing... I'll s-send s-someone baaack...” he promised.

With that, Haru took off from the room without waiting for a response. He tore down the stairs until he was on the floor below and into the throng of people. Many of them flinched when they saw Haru, mistaking him for an actual zombie, but Haru was used to that by now. So long as no one tried to stop him, that was what mattered.

And sure enough, once he got to the door, he saw that Sousuke was already easing Makoto's body out of Chiyo and Kisumi's arms. For the first time in so long, Haru's mouth felt dry.

“Isss h-he...?”

“He's unconscious,” Kisumi said, putting a firm hand on Haru's shoulder, “But we need to get him treated now. He's already lost a lot of blood.”

Kisumi might have been passive most of the time, but when he spoke so firmly, it pulled Haru back into the here and now. Haru looked up at him and nodded, hoping that the gratitude came through on his expressionless face. Then he turned to look at Chiyo as well.

“...Y-y-youuu b-bothhh... m-made it... Yooou boo-oth... brooughttt... h-him heerrreee... Thaaank y-you...”

These two men... Haru loved them so much. He didn't know what he'd do if he lost them, so he had to make sure that today wouldn't be the day when he found out.

But right now, Makoto was the one who needed their help more urgently. Sousuke had already gone on ahead, carrying Makoto in great strides, despite the fact that he shouldn't have been strong enough to do that, not now. The adrenaline must've given him a burst of strength. People parted as Sousuke passed, but Sousuke shouldn't have to do this alone. The three of them didn't have to say that to each other – without another word, they hurried onwards to help Sousuke.

***

They'd made it to the cover of the woods, but they were on foot and the compound was not. There was no question about it – Christine would make it to Iwatobi before Isuzu and Gou could get back to warn anyone of her arrival, with an army that was too big for the raiders to face. Gou kicked at the dirt in frustration.

“This is hopeless... The walkie-talkies won't even get any proper signal until we get closer and that's the only way we can let them know,” she said.

Gou almost regretted telling Hayato to go on ahead in the van, but if Hayato had been caught, then that would've been much worse. Hopefully even if Hayato didn't see Christine, he'd be able to figure out that something was coming and prepare the raiders for that. Even so, Isuzu kept on trying with the her walkie-talkie, which crackled noisily, but didn't pick up anything.

“We have to keep trying,” Isuzu insisted, “A Mikoshiba doesn't give up.”

Yet despite this, there was doubt in her voice. The two of them were safe enough in the woods. Some of the compound had stayed behind to Sano to look for them, but the majority had now pressed on for Iwatobi, presumably with Christine at their helm. The compound would stick to the road, so Gou doubt that Isuzu and herself would be spotted as long as they moved sensibly, but right now, their own safety felt like a small reward at the cost of everyone else's. She moved to the edge of the trees, watching the compound vehicles pulling away from Sano one by one.

“There has to be something else we can do...” she mumbled, “They're the only ones who have transport here and I've got plenty of experience hijacking compound vehicles. Just not when there's so many of them.”

“But there isn't going to be many left in Sano,” said Isuzu, coming up behind her, “As much as I hate to say it, the two of us aren't their main goal here. If we can find a lone car that's been left behind, I know we can overpower a few guards.”

Her confidence was infectious. Gou found herself nodding in agreement.

“It'll be risky trying to blend in with them, but that seems like the only chance we've got,” she said, turning back to nod at Isuzu, “Let's do it.”

They had to believe it would work, just like they had to believe in the revolution. And if they didn't make it, then at least they tried. Gou couldn't live with herself if she'd done nothing and she knew that Isuzu felt the same way. So they made their way back into Sano, only this time with purpose. The streets weren't clear, but it was obvious that Christine had already given up on them and pressed on, leaving only a few soldiers behind to look for them.

Isuzu and Gou could handle a few soldiers.

They didn't find the lone compound vehicle that they were hoping to pick off from the rest, but they did find a cluster where the remaining vans had been left together, their dirt tracks scattered all over Sano's roads. They must've come from Tokyo, since the compound had a strong hold there. Then again, the compound had a strong hold almost everywhere these days. But Gou didn't waste time thinking about how they'd got here, what mattered was that they were here now.

The vans were guarded, because it would've been foolish if they hadn't been. Yet Gou was brimming with determination now. She crept up on the closest guard and knew that Isuzu had her back with taking out the other one. In a practised motion, Gou gave the guard a swift kick in the back, knocking them to their knees, before rendering them unconscious with a blow to the head. The guard fell to the road like a sack of potatoes, but Gou didn't have time to care. Perhaps these guards were just people doing a job, but they were endangering the lives of Gou's family.

“Got it!” Isuzu called.

She was louder than Gou would've liked, but it was hard to be annoyed about that when she looked over to see Isuzu standing on the guard she'd taken out. This woman was a force to be reckoned with.

“We should take their uniforms. I doubt we'll trick anyone, but it's worth a shot to see how far we get,” said Gou.

They couldn't afford to waste much time. So the two of them quickly got to work pulling the loose compound uniform on over the top of their own clothes. Gou still remembered back in the beginning, when the compound wore those ridiculous full-body suits and masks, in case the infection was airborne. When it became apparent this wasn't the case, the compound had ditched those in favour of a more practical uniform.

“Ready. Let's hurry,” Gou said.

The two of them climbed into the first van they came across, with Isuzu taking the driver's seat. Any suggestions Gou might've had about a stealthy escape were thrown out the window as soon as Isuzu started up the van and tore down the road. Gou quickly clicked her seatbelt into place.

“What if they come after us?” she asked.

“They will anyway. We've gotta get there fast, right?” Isuzu replied.

There was no arguing with that. As they headed through the streets of Sano, Gou only hoped they could make it back to Iwatobi before it was too late.

***

Makoto's mind was a blank. For what felt like a long time, he couldn't remember where he was. His mind swam in and out of focus... Aware of people moving around, but unable to apply any context to it. He just wanted to sleep...

...Fuck!

When he tried to move, a jolt of pain ran through his body. His shoulder...!

That's right... Makoto had been shot. He'd been out at the beach with Kisumi and Chiyo, then the helicopters came... But there were already compound guards planted in the town and then... there were zombies. They'd been trying to make it to the school... Back to Sousuke...

Had they made it...?

He willed his eyes open and as his vision came back into focus, he got his answer to that question. Sousuke's worried face was looming over him. He'd probably not taken his eyes off Makoto since he'd got here, if Makoto knew Sousuke. He wanted to reach up to stroke his face, but as he tried to move his arm, another jolt of pain ran through his body.

“Makoto! You're awake!”

“...Sousuke...”

“Be careful, don't move...” Sousuke said, reaching forward to stroke Makoto's face instead, “Th-they had to bandage your shoulder up. The doctors said that it should heal, but you have to rest it...”

A weak smile passed across Makoto's face; “It's almost like we've switched around, huh...?” He nodded towards Sousuke's shoulder.

“Please. That was years ago... Luckily you didn't know me well enough to fuss over me back then,” said Sousuke, “But I'm going to fuss over you so much until you recover.”

Perhaps Makoto should've objected, but the thought of that was nice. It also put Makoto in a much better place than he was currently. He saw himself at home with Sousuke, in their new house, with their friends close by and nothing to worry about. But he doubted that would actually be happening any time soon.

Makoto willed himself to sit up, despite Sousuke's protests. The pain shot through his shoulder again, but now he was sitting up he could see that it had been properly bandaged. He could also see around the room, which was overflowing with people who'd been injured in the explosions and not enough beds to house them. Makoto felt bad for taking one up, but a slight shake of Sousuke's head stopped him from climbing out of it.

Sousuke wasn't the only one who was here either. As he looked around, Makoto saw Kisumi, Chiyo and Haru, all watching him with just as much relief as Sousuke was. They'd brought him here. They'd made sure that Makoto had got here alive.

“Hey guys... looks like the gang's almost all here,” Makoto said, “Thanks for... for saving me...”

“...Th-thiiinkkk... noth...iiing... of iiiit...” said Chiyo.

If this had happened back before Chiyo had been infected, then Makoto wondered if he'd smugly say that Makoto owed him one. But even if it wasn't said, Makoto knew that was the case. Though he doubted he'd be paying anyone back any time soon in this condition.

“We're just glad to see you're awake,” said Kisumi.

“I'm glad, too,” Makoto agreed, before turning to Haru, “Hope you didn't worry too much.”

A wheezy laugh; “...N-not neeaaarly... as m-m-mucchhh... as S-sooousukee... d-didd...”

“Come on, Haru, let him have this one,” Makoto scolded, before Sousuke could make a retort, “You can't blame him for being worried about his partner. Besides, I know you'd be the same if it was one of yours.”

Sousuke's eyes widened at that.

“What do you mean one of his?” he asked.

“...Huuuh... s-soo you k-know... theeen...?” Haru said, as calmly as ever.

“Makoto asked me the question that Sousuke wouldn't,” Kisumi chuckled, “I hope you don't mind that I told them about us.”

“...D-doesssn't... both-theeerr mee... at aaall...” assured Haru. And Chiyo nodded in agreement.

“Right,” said Sousuke, “Right. So Kisumi's dating _two_ zombies now?”

“It might be the end of the world today. There's worse things that I could be doing,” Kisumi dismissed with a shrug.

That statement brought Makoto back to the gravity of their situation. As much as it was nice to catch up with the others, not all of them where here and Makoto doubted the situation had gotten any better while he'd been out. The crowded state of this room proved that.

“Hey, so... as much as I'm glad to see you all, can someone fill me in on what's happening?” Makoto asked, “Has anyone heard from Gou and the others?”

“I'd like to know what's going on as well,” said Kisumi, “As soon as we got here we hurried you into the clinic, so I don't know much more. I haven't seen Hayato since we arrived, but people are saying that he made an announcement to gather at the gate and fight back if we need to, so I know he's around. The people who are already here don't want to leave though and I can't blame them – it isn't safe on the streets.”

“It might not be safe here, either...” Sousuke grumbled. He took a long sigh and then looked around, but it was impossible to get privacy in the clinic. The best Sousuke could do was motion for them all to lean in close. He lowered his voice before he continued; “...We have a hostage. Remember that scientist who screwed us over in Tokyo? Well, somehow Hayato's got his hands on him and he's been keeping him hidden here the whole time.”

Kisumi gasped; “Oh Hayato... why would he do something like that...? No wonder they're attacking us...”

“Guess you were right about him keeping another secret,” Makoto said to Sousuke.

“Yeah, but I don't take any joy in it,” assured Sousuke, “Daichi's guarding him upstairs. He won't be above shooting him if it comes to it, but I hope that it doesn't. Even if Hayato's being an idiot, we have this guy here now, so we can use him to bargain with them.”

“That's horrible...” Kisumi said.

“And so is what they're doing to us,” Sousuke replied, “I don't like this any more than you do, but those guys won't show mercy to Haru and Chiyo. And they didn't show mercy to those dead raiders in the truck, either. We have to take any chance we can get.”

There was a long silence. None of them liked it, but they couldn't reason with that logic. The scientist was their prisoner now and if they could use him to stop the compound at all, then they had to do just that. Besides, that scientist had tried to kill them all in Tokyo. If anything, they were being a lot more merciful to him right now than he'd been to them.

Makoto just had to hope that Daichi would carry on showing mercy so that no more people needed to die today than necessary.

***

Hayato was shaken from his van being knocked off the road, but otherwise he was fine. There were people in much worse condition than he was. He saw them as he walked through the streets, making his way to the school. The raiders might've panicked, but they'd stayed strong, even in his absence. From the zombie corpses lying around, Hayato could tell that they'd been able to neutralise the escapees from the zombie enclosure.

That was the thing about the raiders – they were all survivors. They had all endured. After the outbreak, they were the ones who'd stayed behind to make lives for themselves and they knew what they were doing. Hayato had just been the one to gather these already capable people into one place.

If Christine Whittle wiped them out, that would be a huge loss. This was the raider's world, not hers. Hayato believed that.

Which was why he had to try bargaining with Christine before it was too late. He'd worked under her employ in the past, so she knew exactly how her mind worked. She gave off the impression of a just saviour, so long as everyone knew that she was the one who'd saved them. Before the outbreak, she'd not been anyone important, but her fast actions and resourcefulness had seen to it that she became someone the people could rely on after the zombies came and she'd steadily rose in power during the years that followed.

But she was proud... Oh boy, was she proud. Hayato had heard many tales about that back when he'd dated Boney. They'd stay up in the labs and Boney would whine about Christine's expectations of him, while Hayato worked on his projects, desperate to find a cure for Haru. As Christine's son, only the best was expected of Boney and he hated every minute of it. Boney didn't understand how easy he'd got it – Christine had seen to it that he'd gotten his job in the facility, despite being grossly under-qualified and, more importantly, under-skilled. Everything Boney wanted, his mother got for him, just so long as he didn't ruin her good name.

But Boney had been a blemish on the Whittle crown. He was lazy, mouthy, argumentative and lacked the public image Christine worked so hard to keep. That was why she'd shipped him off to the lab in Tokyo. Boney thought that his mother was finally granting him the freedom he deserved, but the truth was that she'd just wanted him out of sight, so he couldn't embarrass her any more.

Yet despite all of this, Boney was still Christine's only son. Her only chance to carry on her family legacy. She might want him out of sight, but that didn't mean she wanted him at risk. She cared about him at least that much.

Which was why Hayato couldn't believe his luck when Boney crawled onto their doorstep. Daichi said from the start that it was a trap, but Hayato knew that Christine wouldn't send her son into a hostile environment like that. No, this was Boney being Boney. Which Hayato knew better than anyone.

And now Hayato's twisted ex was the only thing they could use to stop this invasion. The compound was coming from the sky and soon they'd be coming from the land as well. Hayato had to get to his hostage and then find Christine to negotiate with her. That was his only option.

As he made it to the school, the first thing Hayato saw was how crowded it was. The people needed him to guide them, but Hayato knew that as soon as he made himself known, he wouldn't get a moment alone to go check on Boney. So he had to keep hidden for now. It looked like everyone was preoccupied with tending to the wounded regardless.

He made his way around the back, where it was at least a little quieter, and kept his head low as he got inside and walked up the stairs. His footsteps echoed all around, the higher he got, the less the chatter drowned them out. As he reached the top floor, he thanked his lucky stars that no one had come here yet. Now he just needed to get up to the roof and into the shed where-

“Hey, Fox, why you hurrying off like that? Don't you want to catch up? After all, it looks like your information is _severely_ outdated.”

Hayato blood ran cold. That was Boney. B-but even if he wasn't locked up, he could still barely walk on that leg of his, right...?

There was nothing for it. Hayato braced himself and turned to look into the room where Boney's voice had come from. The sight that greeted him was the last thing he wanted to see... Daichi, his beloved Daichi, gagged and tied to a chair, with Boney draped across his lap, gun in hand. Looked like Hayato wasn't the only one who was good at acting. And from Boney's wicked smile, he knew that all too well.

Boney stroked a hand across Daichi's chubby cheek and it made Hayato feel sick to his stomach. It was one thing when Hayato endured Boney's advances to get ahead in the facility, but for Boney to force himself on Daichi? For Boney to _threaten Daichi's life?_

Hayato suddenly felt a rage boil up inside him that was almost completely alien to him. Perhaps Hayato got emotional at times, but he was tactical at best and petty at worst. He'd never felt truly angry like he did right now. His hands balled into fists.

But Boney was not deterred. His eyes narrowed and his grin grew wider; “I guess we're going to have a little chat then.”


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hayato has done it this time. His partner is in the hands of a maniac and there's nothing Hayato can do to protect him except grovel at Boney's feet. Perhaps Hayato has finally run out of saviours...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while since I've updated Late Supper and this is something of a short chapter, but this scene means a lot to me and I wanted it to stand on its own. Also, if you want more from this AU, I recently posted a standalone fic set in the same universe called Hokkaido Ramen, focusing on what happened to Asahi, Ikuya and Hiyori after the outbreak. It's unconnected to the main series, so you won't miss anything if you skip it out, but it's there if you want a bit extra.

All Daichi could do was stare fearfully at Hayato, wishing he could be anywhere else except here, at Boney's mercy. There were times, even now, when Daichi wondered if Hayato truly loved him as much as Daichi loved Hayato, but seeing the silent anger on Hayato's face gave Daichi his answer – Hayato would do anything to save him. And right now, Daichi wished that he wouldn't. Daichi's life alone wasn't worth Hayato risking himself for. The revolution needed Hayato a lot more than it needed Daichi. And after all, without Hayato, Daichi had no one else to live for regardless. It was Daichi's duty to protect Hayato, not the other way around.

But Daichi couldn't say anything at all, not through the gag he was wearing. All he could do was shudder in fear as Boney shifted uncomfortably on his lap. Boney turned to look at Daichi for a moment and having him up so close, Daichi could see the contempt in Boney's green eyes – he could see the jealousy.

“You know, Fox, I will never understand what you see in this pilot,” Boney drawled, talking to Hayato, even while he was looking at Daichi; “Dull... lonely... just another face in the crowd. Perhaps you wanted someone who was easy to control, since that is your style.”

“If I'd wanted someone who was easy to control, then I would've stayed with you,” Hayato retorted.

The gun was pressed hard into the bottom of Daichi's chin. Boney wasn't going to take that kind of talk.

“You'd best treat me better than that if you like his plain face the way it is,” said Boney, “Honestly, after how you've treated me since I got here, I think I'm being reasonable.”

Hayato held up his hands; “All right, Boney, you've got me. We'll talk. Just don't... don't hurt him.”

“I won't have to, if you behave,” purred Boney, “But gosh, I hardly know where to start. There's just sooo much going on out there, isn't there? Mum is upset that you've taken her beloved son from her.”

“You came to me willingly,” Hayato pointed out.

“And what a mistake that was! Everything that happens to me is a fucking mistake, you know that?” Boney snapped, “I suffered when your pilot shot me. For the first time in my life, I thought Mum would be proud of me. After all, I was the one who took the cure back from you after you ran away, I was the one who gave it to her – without me, she'd still be queen of the paupers back at the compound. But did she give me credit? Hah! By the time I got out of hospital, she'd already moved on with her plans without a backwards glance, as usual.”

“At this point, I'm surprised that you're surprised about that,” said Hayato. Even now, he couldn't resist taking pot shots, but given Daichi's position, he really wished that Hayato wouldn't.

“Mock me all you want, but trusting her isn't the only mistake I've ever made. You and her are just as bad as each other, aren't you? So many people are suffering because of your little war,” said Boney.

“People will die if she has her way,” Hayato insisted, “It's always been our goal to deal with the zombie problems, but your mother doesn't have any right to take the raider's homes from them.”

“Ahh, but that depends on who you're asking. It also depends on just how much I care...” Boney hummed, “I came to you because I thought you'd be a better option. Sure, we had bad blood, but nothing we couldn't work out. Hayato Shigino... the shining star in my sky. From the moment I first saw you, you took my breath away. With your willowy figure and your sharp wit. And I know I'm not the only one who fell for your charms.” At that, Boney gave Daichi's leg a squeeze; “...But when it comes down to it, you're just a single-minded fool. It's always been about protecting your family, hasn't it? Your weird brother was so very sad in the compound... little Hayato just wanted to bring his friends back to him so he'd be happy again. Such a complex web you weaved trying to do that! But look around you, Fox, do you really think that this is what your family wants?”

“It was... the only way...!” Hayato growled.

But the cracks were showing and Daichi could see that. He knew Hayato well enough to recognise the doubt. All the times that Hayato had broken down to Daichi when they were alone, wishing that he'd never done the things that he had done. During those nights together, Daichi could comfort him, but right now all he could do was watch as Boney's poisonous words seeped in.

“Mum thinks the same – that wiping you out is the only way. She's right that you're dangerous, but then you're right that she's dangerous, too. It's kind of sad how our leaders are always the worst of us, isn't it? When so many good, kind people could probably do a better job, if you didn't keep them in a corner,” said Boney.

“And that's you, I take it? You think that you can do a better job?” Hayato asked.

“Oh no, I've got no interest in that. Too much effort with too little reward, judging from you. No, I just want to see you both suffer...!” said Boney.

He finally got off Daichi's lap, trailing a hand across him as he walked around to stand at his side. Then the gun was pointed at Daichi's temple. Daichi knew what was coming.

“You think I'm using him as a hostage? That you can bargain with me?” Boney cooed, “No, Fox, I just want to see the look on your face when I kill the person you love in cold blood. Then you'll probably kill me, which in turn will make Mum suffer, so that's a bonus. But you'll never get him back and you'll have no one to blame but yourself.”

Tears leaked from Daichi's eyes. This was the end. After everything, he would die here and leave Hayato at the hands of a maniac. They couldn't even say goodbye to each other in their final moments. Daichi wouldn't be able to tell Hayato how much he loved him, that even after everything, he wanted to marry Hayato and care for him for the rest of his life...

“Boney, stop! Please, I'll do anything...! Just not... not Daichi...”

Hayato took several steps forward, but Boney wasn't having that.

“On your knees!” he yelled, jamming the gun against Daichi's head for emphasis.

Without hesitation, Hayato complied. He lowered himself to the floor, putting his hands behind his head. But he couldn't stop the crying. Large, ugly tears steamed down his face.

“If you want to make me suffer... there's other ways,” Hayato begged, “I'll do anything for you... Anything...”

That was what got Boney to step away from Daichi, though the gun was still in his hands. He walked across to Hayato, standing over him and leering down.

“You've had more chances than any reasonable person would give you. But maybe I love you even more than your pilot does. Maybe I could give you another chance...”

Boney leaned down. That was when Hayato took his opportunity. He jumped up in an instant, grabbing Boney and tackling him to the floor with a sickening thud. The two of them rolled together, Hayato trying to grab the gun out of Boney's hands the whole while. But he just wasn't strong enough, no matter how much taller than Boney he was. It was all happening far too quickly. Before Daichi knew what had happened, Hayato had bitten Boney's wrist and the gun was dropped, skidding away across the floor.

“Agggrrrhhhhh! Fuckfuckfuck...! This is it! This is it, Fox! You'll die today!”

Their scuffle ended with Boney on top. He straddled across Hayato's neck, punching him over and over again.

“I'll kill you! Then I'll kill that pilot and my mum and everyone in this fucking town! You care about your brother so much? I'll kill him, too! And your zombies and those fuckers from the mountain! You're already dead! You're a-”

...Boney's eyes went slack. He dropped to the floor, sliding off Hayato. He was bleeding out the back of his head. Boney had been shot.

As one, Daichi and Hayato's eyes moved to the door to see who'd saved them.

***

“No one threatens my family.”

Sousuke lowered the gun, noting how steady his hands were, despite how terrified he felt on the inside. All those years that he'd lived out in the mountains, even in the last year when he'd been hunted by the compound, he'd managed to avoid killing people as much as he could. Yet this time... it had been the only way. If he hadn't acted, then Hayato and Daichi would be dead and that scientist wouldn't have stopped until he'd killed all the others.

Sousuke walked further into the room, staring down at Hewitt or Boney or whatever he was called. A pool of rich, red blood had formed from where he'd been shot through the head, mingling with his dyed green hair. Sousuke nudged the body with his foot, but it was clear that he was gone.

So he turned to look at Hayato, who was still lying on the floor, looking more traumatised than Sousuke had ever seen him. Sousuke's eyes narrowed.

“I have a body count now because of you. Hayato... this needs to stop. I want to protect you, but if it keeps coming to this, I won't be able to carry on. None of us will.” With that, Sousuke gestured towards Daichi; “...And I don't care how far this guy follows you, he deserves better than for you to keep pushing him.”

In the short time that he'd gotten to know him, Sousuke had become fond of Daichi. In a different world, where he'd been able to push his mechanical skills and creativity to the limit, Daichi could've thrived. Plain on the outside, but there was more to that kid on the inside. Sousuke could only hope that Hayato saw that even better than Sousuke saw it.

“I... I...”

It took him a few moments, but Hayato shakily got to his feet, wobbling on the spot as he steadied himself. His cheeks were red from where the tears had stained them. He'd truly believed that this was the end, only for Sousuke to save him at the last moment. Hayato looked across at Sousuke for a second, not sure what to say. Then he turned himself towards Daichi, who was still tied to the chair. As soon as their eyes met, Hayato raced over, collapsing on Daichi and sobbing loudly.

“Y-you could've died...! He was going to... to... a-and I couldn't stop him!” Hayato wailed.

For a while, Hayato's sobbing went on and Sousuke just let him cry. But then Hayato pulled back and wiped the tears from his face, before reaching forward to take the gag off Daichi. Their eyes met and they both nodded.

“I'll never let this happen to you again,” vowed Hayato, “We'll live long enough to get married and then longer still.”

“Hah... this time I know you mean it,” Daichi said.

“There'll be no more secrets,” promised Hayato.

“Nah, I'll let you have a few secrets. Otherwise it wouldn't be fun,” Daichi replied.

With that, Hayato pressed forward to kiss him softly. Which was all well and good, but Sousuke knew that their safety was just a small victory in a much more dangerous situation. Christine Whittle was still on her way here with an army. And Sousuke had just killed their one bargaining chip – her son.

Today wasn't going to get any better from here on out.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sousuke is dragging along a dead body in a bag. All things considered, his day could be going better.

With Isuzu's reckless driving, it didn't take them long to catch up with the troops who'd already gone ahead. But that was when Gou had to insist that they slowed down before they gave themselves away. She could see the reluctance in Isuzu from the way she gripped the wheel, but Isuzu wouldn't just dismiss something Gou had said.

“They'll be coming after us. They might've even radioed ahead to tell them we stole the van, that's what we would do if this situation was flipped,” said Isuzu.

Gou glanced at the radio for a moment, wishing that they could use it to contact Hayato or any of the others. But it was too risky to mess with the compound's tech, especially since Gou was the one who wanted to keep a low profile. She looked up ahead, to where the tail end of the other compound vehicles could now be seen in front of them.

“There is that possibility, but we don't know for sure,” she said, “They haven't sent anyone back to take us out yet and we aren't being followed as far as we know. We should take a chance at stealth.”

“And then what? When they get to Iwatobi and start killing our guys – what do we do then?” Isuzu asked, drumming her fingers on the wheel as the van now moved at a pace that was too slow for her liking.

“I don't know...” Gou admitted.

She had hoped that she'd come up with a plan between Sano and Iwatobi. No matter how Gou looked at it, the situation was too big. If it came down to a fight of numbers alone, the compound would win. And even if they didn't win today, they could keep sending more troops until they did. Any victory the revolution took by force would be a temporary solution... dammit.

The only two factors Gou could see in their favour is that the revolution was fighting on their home turf, with all their supplies at hand, and also that Christine herself had come out here today, putting herself at risk. Dealing with Christine directly would have a ripple effect on the rest of the compound. Perhaps that could be their only chance, but getting to her wouldn't be easy.

“Don't you think they're driving weird?” Isuzu asked.

Gou honestly hadn't noticed. She looked ahead, to where several vans were spread out across both lanes, almost creating a wall for the much bigger truck in front of them.

Wait... a truck?

“Oh no...” Gou muttered, swallowing hard before talking again, “Isuzu, they have a truck and it looks the same as the one from last time. You don't think?”

“It won't be a bomb, not if they're bringing their own people to Iwatobi,” said Isuzu.

“No, but the last truck... the bodies...” Gou pressed.

“That's just sick! All the more reason to run them down if that's what they're got in there!” Isuzu snapped, “But why would they bring us their dead? What's in it for them? Unless they're all zombies.”

“The compound doesn't take risks with zombies. They've done too much to wipe them out to start using them now,” said Gou. Not that she'd rule out entirely that Christine would do something unexpected, but she wanted to believe that it wasn't that; “...It could be hostages?”

“Ugh. That does make the most sense,” Isuzu said, “So they'll try to bargain with us?”

“I hate to say it, but better that then having them just kill us all.”

“It hasn't stopped them before. Whatever terms they'll ask for, it won't be good for us.”

Once again, Isuzu was right. And they were getting closer to Iwatobi now, so there was less time to argue. Gou looked at the truck once again, her face setting into a frown.

“Whatever's in there, I'm sure it'll be better if we take it off their hands,” she said.

“So you'll let me ram this van into the back of them?” Isuzu sounded far too hopeful.

“Not with all the protection they're giving the truck. We'd never get through,” Gou replied, “Look, as soon as they get to Iwatobi, they'll have to spread out to take down our walls. That's when the truck will me the most vulnerable.”

Isuzu grinned; “...So that's when we'll strike.”

***

The top floor of the school had been so deathly quiet that stepping back down to the noisy lower floors felt like taking your head out from underwater. Although, deathly was probably a bad word choice, Sousuke realised, considering that a few minutes ago he'd shot someone. And that someone was currently stuffed into a gym equipment bag Hayato had found somewhere and was being dragged down the stairs by Daichi. Thank goodness that Boney guy had been short. Not that this stopped Sousuke from feeling on edge as he heard the bag hit against every step on the way down.

What had they gotten themselves into?

As soon as they reached the bottom of the stairs, people noticed them. More specifically, people noticed Hayato. They all surged forward, desperate to know what their leader wanted them to do in this hopeless situation.

“They're air-dropping soldiers on us!”

“How do we know who we can trust if they've planted guys?”

“More bombs went off a few minutes ago!”

Hayato looked almost as pale as Boney's body hidden away in the bag. Clearly Hayato was still shaken by what had happened, yet when Daichi went to stand in front of him, Hayato put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head.

“It's okay, I've got this,” he said quietly, before stepping forward to address the crowd, “I'm glad you've all come here for safety and that you've been handling the situation in my absence. Those of you who've been tending to the injured, I want you to keep at that. That's most important. But I'll need a situation update before we can deal with anything else. What of the zombie enclosure?”

“Most of them have been dealt with now, they're not our biggest problem,” said someone from the crowd.

“That's good. The last thing we need is the risk of infection towards all sides in the middle of this,” said Hayato, “Right, so air-dropped troops and planted spies. Is there anything else I should know about?”

A flustered woman pushed her way through the crowd, face red from how hard she'd ran to get there. She stopped in front of Hayato and, looking at her, Sousuke could see the fear in her eyes.

“They're at the gates! It looks like they've got their leader with them, too.”

“Fuck...” Sousuke muttered, not able to stop himself from glancing at the bag behind them, “Well, this day keeps getting better and better.”

“No... this is what we want,” insisted Hayato, as he ran a hand through his ginger hair, “I'll go to negotiate with her. Daichi, come with me and bring... that.”

He gestured to the bag. Not that he needed to.

“I'm coming too,” Sousuke said, “No way am I letting you have free reign to decide our terms without someone to keep your head on straight.”

“But what about Makoto?” Hayato asked, “You need to stay here to look after him.”

“...I'd say that Makoto can decide that for himself, if it's all the same with both of you.”

They turned to where Makoto was stood in the hospital doorway, supported against both Kisumi and Haru. In an instant, Sousuke went to his side, already knowing how this would play out before either of them said a word. He knew Makoto that well, which was why he knew this was inevitable. But that wouldn't stop Sousuke from playing his part.

“You need to rest,” Sousuke said, “You were out cold not too long ago. There's no way you should be walking through town like this, not when there's people out to kill us.”

Makoto gave him a lop-sided grin; “Once upon a time, you'd be the one telling me that you wouldn't let a busted shoulder hold you back. Looks like we've swapped places, huh?”

“This isn't just some zombies in the woods, Makoto. This is... this is people. It's much more dangerous,” said Sousuke, he was almost pleading.

“Which is why I can't let you go in there without me. We're a family. We'll all go together.”

Sousuke took a step back, looking from Makoto to Haru and Kisumi on either side of him and then to the huge figure of Chiyo, looming behind them. He sighed deeply.

“Looks like you've all already decided to gang up against me. I know I can't stop you.”

With that, Makoto leaned forward. Haru let go, so that Sousuke could support Makoto instead. Which was what Sousuke would do, because supporting Makoto was always what Sousuke wanted to do in life. They both needed to live long enough to be able to keep doing that. He turned to look at Hayato again.

“Looks like you got all of us. Whether you like it or not,” Sousuke said.

“I wouldn't have it any other way,” replied Hayato, because that was what was expected of him to say, even if his face told a different story. Hayato then addressed the crowd, who were all eager to know what to do and didn't have time to sit around for this family soap opera; “...You all heard that. My family and I are going to talk with Councilwoman Whittle directly. I want guards – we need to show the compound that we mean business and show them our best if we hope to negotiate with them. But at the same time, we're still under fire and that takes priority. Protect our people first and... and trust me to handle this.”

That statement was greeted by the cheers of people who trusted Hayato a lot more than Sousuke did. But Sousuke had to give it to him that they at least had direction now, which boosted morale. Word would get out and instead of blind panic, everyone would start to do something. Hayato's part was now to make sure Christine listened to them long enough for this to all work out.

And speaking of that, as the crowd parted to let them through to the entrance, Haru moved across to Sousuke with the clear intent of saying something. He waited until they were out the door and away from the crowd, but even then he spoke at a whisper.

“...I k-knooow whaa-aat... you'veee g-g-got... in the baaaag...” Haru said, “...Ch-chiiiyooo doesss... as w-well... Wh-whooo... isss iiit...?”

Ah. Well. Sousuke should've known that it was impossible to hide a body from zombies. Not that these were the people who Sousuke was trying to hide it from. It was a wonder that they didn't get any questions about the bag while leaving the school, but Sousuke assumed that since Daichi was Hayato's right-hand man that the revolution wouldn't question his actions so easily. Sousuke felt Makoto's eyes upon him and knew it was the time to let the cat out of the bag. But not literally. Definitely not literally...

“...It's that Dr. Whittle from Tokyo,” Sousuke whispered.

“What...!” Makoto gasped, “What's he doing here?”

“Hayato thought it'd be a good idea to use him to bargain with his mother. But, well, things got out of hand and now he's dead,” Sousuke said, in a much abbreviated version of that story.

“Oh my god...” muttered Makoto.

He tried to glance back over his shoulder at where Daichi was dragging the bag, but winced with pain. Sousuke could sympathise – it took a while to adjust to shoulder injury, but in Makoto's case, it wasn't a gradual injury that had happened over time.

“...W-whyyy do... yooouu thiiinkkk b-briiing...ing... it isss a g-good ideeeaaa...?” Haru asked.

“Surely this won't make her want to listen to us,” agreed Makoto.

“The alternate was leaving it back there and she'd ask to see him either way,” said Sousuke, “She's going to find out one way or another. Better she does while there's still a wall between us.”

“A wall that she'll tear down to get his body back,” said Makoto.

“She's a leader first and a mother second,” Hayato cut in, “Trust me, I've known her a lot longer than you. Boney is a token of her pride and nothing more. If she's come here to talk to us, this will be a minor setback for her.”

“How could anyone think of their own family like that?” Kisumi asked, sounding the most horrified out of all of them.

“...I re-re...membeerrr...” rumbled Chiyo, putting all of his effort into getting the words out, “...S-saaawww her... in the be-ginniiiing... w-wi... w-wiiithhh G-gooouuu... The b-b-booyyy... waaasss j-juuust y-yoounggg... baa-aack th-theeennn...” He stopped for a moment and then started again, “...H-haayaatooo isss... r-r-riight... She d-dooessn't... c-caree... a-aboout... her s-sonnn...”

“She's a bad mother, but we can use that to our advantage,” said Hayato, “And even if we can't, this is the hand we've been dealt. We have to go forward like this.”

On those less than encouraging words, they pressed on through the city until they reached the gate. As they walked, Sousuke noted that there were no more helicopters arriving to bring soldiers in from the compound, which at least meant that everyone they were being attacked with was either already here or on the other side of the wall. It wasn't much comfort, but at least it was something. He wanted to believe that the lack of bombs going off meant that the revolution had dealt with the planted spies, but he couldn't know that for sure. Perhaps they'd just stopped because Christine was here now.

One of the guards on the gate told them what they already knew – she was outside, waiting. But opening the gates was too risky. She had enough people with her that they could charge with their vehicles and get through.

Instead, Sousuke and the others climbed the ladder on their side of the wall. Some of the guards went first, then they followed. Makoto needed a little help, but Sousuke saw to it that he made it up. Even if Sousuke didn't want Makoto to be in danger, now that they were here, Sousuke felt braver to face this with Makoto at his side.

Now that he could see outside the wall, Sousuke took in the line of vehicles, each with someone inside of it. There was a larger truck near the back, but that wasn't what held Sousuke's attention. Because at the very front was Christine Whittle, surrounded by her own guards.

The last time Sousuke had seen her was during their escape at Tokyo. She had been merciful then, letting them go for the moment to flee for their lives. But in that situation, Sousuke and the others had briefly held the upper hand – they could've shot Christine before she had a chance to get help.

Yet Christine had vowed to change the world and here she was now. Hopefully ready to talk. One way or another, the world would be changed today.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gou and Isuzu need the compound to stay distracted while they break into their truck. Makoto just needs no one else to die today.

The troops had come to a stop now. They'd reach the walls of Iwatobi and while Gou wasn't ruling out that they could take those walls down if they charged, for the moment, that didn't seem to be what the compound wanted to do. Christine's intentions were unknown, but Gou doubted it would be too long before she revealed them.

While Gou looked around at the line of soldiers, Isuzu slowly brought their van to a halt. She parked a little behind the rest of the vehicles, but hopefully not far enough to arouse suspicion. Both of their eyes were on the truck now – they had to find out what was in there and potentially deal with it before it became a problem. When Gou turned to face Isuzu, the two nodded to each other and then moved to climb out of the van without a word.

Once they were outside, the atmosphere felt even heavier than before. The ground was solid beneath Gou's feet, yet she felt like it could give way any moment. She took a deep breath, adjusted her hat to make sure that her hair was safely tucked beneath it, and then the two of them moved, creeping along behind the line of vehicles.

There were compound soldiers as far as the eye could see. All of them were waiting. All of them were watching one person.

Gou glanced to the front of the crowd, where she could just see Christine Whittle standing, surrounded by her guards; her short, white hair ruffled by the wind. It was hard to make out much from standing behind her, but Christine's stance said that she meant business. If the revolution was truly outnumbered, Christine being willing to talk was perhaps their only hope.

She was exposed here. If someone from behind the wall had wanted to, they could shoot her through the head and then the compound would panic without their leader. Gou wouldn't be opposed to that option.

But as she watched, heads began to appear from above the wall on the other side – if they shot Christine, then the soldiers could shoot them. So no, they had to behave.

At the front, Gou saw Hayato and felt relieved that he'd made it back. Along with him, Gou could also see Sousuke, Makoto and the others. It looked as if Makoto was injured... Dammit! There was nothing Gou could do to help them now though. If she revealed herself, then the compound might think Hayato had planted her to spy on them and that would make negotiations even harder.

No, Gou had to trust that those guys knew what they were doing. Besides, in the time Gou had stopped to take in all of this, Isuzu had already made it most of the way to the truck. Gou cursed herself for falling behind and picked up her pace as she followed.

When she reached the truck, Isuzu had her head pressed against it. Gou grabbed her arm and tugged her behind the cover of the nearest empty car.

“They might see you! This truck is important to them...!” Gou hissed. They wouldn't leave it unguarded and the last thing Gou wanted was for Isuzu to get hurt.

“There's something alive inside,” Isuzu said, “I could hear it!”

“You don't think it was zombies, do you?”

Gou looked back towards the truck. They'd ruled that option out when they'd talked about it earlier, but they had no real way of knowing.

“Can't say. Couldn't make out if they were talking or moaning through the truck, just that something was making some noise in there,” Isuzu replied, “It's probably something they're gonna attack the revolution with. We have to get into the truck and deal with it!”

“But then whatever it is might get out,” said Gou, “We should warn the others.”

“How do we get into Iwatobi without being spotted?”

That was a good point. There just wasn't any way. The line of compound soldiers ran too far and if they tried to cross it, then they'd be shot – if not by the compound, then by their own people, since both of them were wearing compound uniforms. The only other way around would be to head down to the ocean and swim, but that would take far too long. By the time they got there, they probably wouldn't be much help to anyone.

Isuzu was right. The only thing they could do was deal with the truck. It wouldn't be easy while it was guarded, but they had to hope that Christine would hold the guards' attention well enough that they could get into it without being noticed.

“All right. We'll see if we can get it open from the back. But if we get caught then...” There was no way that Gou could follow that up. “...Let's not get caught.”

They crept along the side of the truck and as they moved, the diplomats on each side began to talk.

***

It hadn't been too long ago when Hayato was under the employ of Councilwoman Whittle. He thought back to when he'd presented Haru to the council, trying to gain the compound's approval of letting Haru be treated as a citizen, but that felt like a lifetime ago. Now Hayato faced Christine as a leader himself. One that wouldn't let his people be slaughtered for the compound's progress.

“You can't be here peacefully, considering you've been bombing the town,” he called down, because someone had to make the first move.

“How very mighty for you of all people to talk about doing things peacefully,” Christine replied. Her voice was level, she was completely unfazed by him. Unlike her son, Christine would not be easy to rile. She looked up, staring Hayato dead in the eyes even from such a distance and carried on; “I'm sure I don't need to insult you by pointing out the obvious – we have you surrounded. There's no chance for you to win today, but even if there was, I could keep bringing back more and more, picking off your little revolution until there was nothing left. You are but a single problem I need to deal with in order to restore Japan back to the society it once was.”

As if that was the case! Hayato gritted his teeth in frustration. They both knew that no matter what happened, the world couldn't go back to how it had been. They had a way to deal with the zombies now, but there was still no cure for the infection in the water sources, so people would be under constant risk. And those who'd been cared for at the compound were so sheltered that they could easily make mistakes, whereas the raiders had been boiling water for more than a decade now – they were the survivors. No, Christine wanted to take back Japan so she could be recognised as a hero. Hayato would be painted as the villain in this piece, despite being the one who invented the cure machines.

...But saying that out loud wouldn't end well. So he tried a different angle.

“So that's how you see all the people here – as a problem,” he chimed, noting that it caused some murmuring between both his revolution guards and the compound soldiers.

Of course Christine didn't let this get to her; “I've never once stopped any of the raiders from joining me. Letting them stay in Japan was respecting their free will and if they side with me now, I would still welcome them with open arms. Perhaps there are people here who don't want to fight, people who've been dragged into your conflict. I'm sure I could name a few...”

She made a show of turning to look at Kisumi, who was standing between Haru and Chiyo. Seeing her target his brother riled Hayato.

“Don't look at him like that...” Hayato growled.

But Kisumi didn't need Hayato's protection. He stared Christine down and shook his head.

“You must think I'm an idiot if I'd be fooled by your lies. I've seen how you treated Haru, how much my brother had to push just to try and get him accepted by you,” said Kisumi, “If I went along with you, then you'd have him and Chiyo killed. You've already been trying to do that with your machines. We came to Iwatobi because we were driven here to get away from harm. I won't live in a world without my partners, so you either accept them or kill me in the name of your progress.”

Holy fuck, Kisumi. Maybe don't talk about dying so casually after everything Hayato's done to keep you alive. Hayato took a deep breath, Kisumi's words having given him time to regain his composure.

“There. You have your answer – No deal.”

Hayato was somewhat smug in saying that. But this only lasted up until Christine waved her hand and every soldier in the line raised their gun. Fuck! She was going to storm them after all!

“Wait!”

A clear voice rang out through the tense silence as the soldiers waited to be told to fire. It was Makoto – still weak and unsteady as he leaned against Sousuke. All heads turned to him. He had the room.

“Ms. Whittle, I know you're hurting because of your son... You're going to hurt even more soon, no matter what happens here. But I don't think you're evil. You're just trying to do the right thing. And you need to understand... you're not the only one hurting.” Makoto swayed a little, but Sousuke gripped him tighter to hold him up; “Please... come talk to us. If you want to work this out so no one else has to die. We'll... we'll let you inside Iwatobi, right?”

He turned his head towards Hayato, who had no choice but to agree with him in this situation, even if bringing Christine into Iwatobi was the last thing he wanted.

“She can bring a small amount of armed guards if she's coming within our walls. That is all,” Hayato insisted.

“All right. But we'll be walking a little way. I have a place where I want to go to talk,” said Makoto.

Hayato had no idea what Makoto was planning, but if he could convince Christine to try negotiating, then that was a better job than Hayato had done here. He turned his head back to Christine. The ball was in her court now.

She waved her hand. The guns were lowered.

“Perhaps we can make a trade after all. You're lucky that your subordinates are better with words than you are, Dr. Shigino.”

“They're not my subordinates. They're my family,” Hayato insisted.

“Yes... family is important. So you'll let me through to see mine,” said Christine, before turning back to the soldiers, “I want you all to hold your positions until I return. If I need my bargaining chips, I will send someone to fetch them.”

With that, she walked towards the gate, her closest guards following her. This was it... she was putting herself at their mercy in the hope to get back her son. ...Who was already dead.

Hayato had to hope that Makoto knew what he was doing.

***

All the while that Hayato had been keeping Christine talking, Isuzu and Gou had been working on the lock at the back of the truck's trailer. Neither of them were strangers to lock-picking, but progress was slow because of the guards. They'd swiftly had to settle into a routine where Isuzu worked on the lock, while Gou kept look out. Every time a guard glanced their way, Gou would pull Isuzu under the truck until the moment had past.

Christine was heading into Iwatobi now... Which meant that they didn't have much time left before the soldiers inevitably started looking around more now that they didn't have their leader to focus on. They had to hurry.

Now that she was next to the truck, Gou could hear the noises from inside as well. Isuzu was right. And Gou feared the worst... What if they'd brought something to attack the revolution with and the two of them were letting it out? Zombies were one possibility, but... but there were other scientists besides Hayato who'd worked for the compound and studied them. What if they'd made... some kind of super zombie? Like Chiyo, but not on their side.

Maybe opening the truck wasn't a good idea after all.

“Isuzu, should we-”

“-got it!”

The lock fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Isuzu scrambled up to heave up the hatch. Which made a loud noise as it folded up, because why wouldn't it? They should've planned for that.

“What do you think you're doing!”

It was too late. The guards had seen them and they were surrounded. Yet even now, Isuzu refused to back down. She turned to face them, smiling against all odds.

“Liberating whatever you've got in here!”

“...Isuzu...? Is that you?”

A voice from inside the truck. It didn't sound like a zombie by any means. In fact, it sounded familiar.

Gou turned to look inside, where several people were blinking out into the sun. They looked cold and confused, but most of all, they looked... familiar. Gou swallowed when she realised that she knew where everyone in this truck had come from. It was as if someone had taken a handful of Iwatobi and turned the clock ahead by over fifteen years.

These people... they were all Iwatobi survivors who'd gone with the compound in the beginning, weren't they? That was the only explanation. Iwatobi had seemed so barren right after the outbreak, but Gou always knew that there must've been more people who'd fled while she was unconscious and left behind in the wake of it. It made sense that some of them would've trusted Christine's offer of safety.

And one girl in particular... no, not a girl, but a woman now, stepped out onto the edge of the truck. Still as tiny as ever, still similar enough to how Gou remembered, despite all the time that had passed.

Gou brought a hand up to her mouth to hide her gasp.

“...Ayumu.”


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was the final gamble. But perhaps, even after everything, it was still possible for the tale of Iwatobi to end softly.

To say the atmosphere was tense as the gates were opened would've been an understatement. Everyone was on guard – there was no guarantee that Christine wouldn't have her troops storm through as soon as the gates were opened. Yet she stayed true to her word, coming into Iwatobi with only a few guards.

The gates were closed behind her. Now Christine was the vulnerable one. They could take out her and her guards easily enough if they wanted to, but Makoto knew that no one here would do that. The others had placed their faith in him, so Makoto had to do the best he could. He looked across at Sousuke and smiled weakly.

“Could you help me get to the cherry blossoms? I want to talk there...” he asked.

“Sure, let's go.”

It was clear from Sousuke's face that he didn't understand Makoto's intentions, but he trusted him enough to go along with them all the same. So the two of them stepped out in front as the others followed. Their pace was slow, because Makoto was still struggling from the pain in his shoulder, but they made their way through town. As they did, everyone watched. No matter which side they were on, all the people here knew that this was an important moment. Would Makoto be arrogant if he assumed it could be a historic one? Thinking that what would happen today could shape the future (and that was currently riding on him) made Makoto feel ill. More so than he already was.

All the while that they walked, Makoto could hear the sports bag that contained Dr. Whittle's body being dragged behind Daichi like it was a bad omen. But it was good that they'd brought this with them, Makoto decided. Killing him was the choice that they'd made and they had to go forward with that.

Even if it meant that Christine might not listen to them.

After a slow journey, they made their way to the cherry blossom tree. They were close enough to the school that people could see and when Makoto glanced over, he saw that every window was lined with faces all looking out, all wanting to know what was going on. This would not be a private conversation. But perhaps it was better that way.

Once they'd reached the graves, Makoto nodded to Sousuke and pulled away, standing on his own. He was a little unsteady, but he managed. When he turned to look at Christine, Makoto saw her looking at the graves, taking in the names written on them.

“I guess these names mean nothing to you. It's okay that they don't. You never met them, so why would they?” Makoto started, “But they... they meant something to all of us. Rin was mine and Haru's dear friend, Sousuke's best friend, Gou's brother... Then there's my family, buried in Iwatobi. Gou's mom is buried here as well. There's this guy, Hibiki, who I never even met, but I know he meant a lot to some of my friends. So I respect him. I come here when I want to remember all of these people... Everyone who was lost because of the infection.”

Christine's expression was as steely as ever; “Are you implying that I don't respect the dead? Because I can assure you that I do. My goal is to make sure more people don't end up like this.”

“I think we all want that. But no, I believe that you respect the dead, hopefully from all sides. My point was that we've all lost people to this.”

Makoto looked past the crowd, to where Daichi was awkwardly standing behind everyone. The others turned to look with him, including Christine. Daichi went pale.

“Do you want me to... open it?” he asked, sounding like that was the last thing he wanted to do.

“It's time,” said Makoto, “We can't hide this any more.”

“All right...”

Daichi crouched down and reached for the zip with a shaky hand. As he began to open the bag, Hayato moved to stand closer to him, clearly worried that Christine might try to hurt him when she saw what was inside. But all the while, Christine watched the bag, waiting until it was open and she could see what was inside. If Daichi looked pale, then it was nothing compared to the body in the bag, which had bled out from the head wound, staining the inside of the bag. Dr. Whittle's face was peacefully blank – he knew no more of the world.

Given how stoic she had always been, none of them quite knew how Christine would react. From what Hayato had said about her, there was a chance she wouldn't care at all. Yet Makoto hoped that she would. She'd let them go free back in Tokyo – she was as human as anyone else.

And... he was right.

Seeing her son's body was what finally broke Christine. She rushed over to the bag, reaching inside to take his head in her hands.

“...Hewitt... My little boy... They... they took you from me...”

“That's not completely true,” said Hayato, who still hadn't learned how to choose his moments.

Christine's head whipped around.

“You did this, Shigino! You killed him and now you want to argue technicalities?”

“Well, Sousuke was the one who shot him, but only because he was going to kill Daichi and myself if he didn't. You can look at him through rose-tinted glasses all you want, Councilwoman Whittle, but we both know that Boney was deranged,” Hayato said, “And for the record – he was the one who came to me. He chose to side with me against you, knowing that I would take him as a hostage. Perhaps if you'd cared for your son as much as you claim to care for society, he wouldn't be here. He wouldn't be... like this.”

“Hayato, that's enough,” Makoto firmly cut in, “We're not here to throw blame around.”

“Then why are we here?” Christine demanded.

“Because I want you to understand that people are dying... so many people,” Makoto explained, “If you 'win' today, then raiders will die, Haru and Chiyo will either die or else be doomed to having you argue if they count as human or not until they do die. If the raiders fight you off, then your people will die and those living in the compound can't come home. People die either way and knowing that... I can't go on like this. I don't want anyone to win, not the revolution or the compound, I don't want people to die over bickering. Can't you see now? Friends, lovers, sons, brothers, sisters, mothers... families, they're all dying. We've all lost. And we're going to keep losing at this rate...”

“No, not Hewitt...” Christine whispered. Then she turned to Hayato, talking more frantically, “You're the zombie scientist – you must know how to bring him back! There has to be a way! He's my only son...”

“Geez, I guess we can't reason with her,” Sousuke muttered. He gave Makoto's shoulder a squeeze; “But you tried your best.”

A voice came from behind them.

“Not with her, but perhaps you can reason with us.”

***

“What are you doing here?”

The people in the truck were climbing out now and Gou noted that even some of the soldiers looked surprised to see them. Whatever was going on here, not everyone was in the know about it. But at the moment, Gou cared more about who she'd found after all these years. She hurried across, hugging Ayumu lightly.

“I didn't know... I thought you were all dead,” Gou said, “What happened? Are Romio and Shizuru...?”

She pulled back, giving Ayumu the space to answer. Ayumu looked up at her, but shook her head.

“Romio died in the beginning and Shizuru while we were on the road...” she said, “It was just me on my own. Then the compound came and started taking people to safety, so I went with them. I never thought I'd be back here again.”

“So why are you here?” asked Gou, “Do you know why they've brought you.”

“Yes, it was our time to get shipped back home. The council said that they've found a cure, so they've started taking people back into Japan. They said Iwatobi was ready for us... there were no more zombies and it was safe.”

Isuzu whistled loudly; “Yeeeaaahhh... uh, that was a lie. It's a warzone out there and our boy Hayato kind of keeps zombies as, like, research pets, I think. Whatever they brought you to Iwatobi for, it wasn't to let you go home.”

“So why are they here? I thought it was just supplies in that truck.”

It was one of the soldiers who'd asked. In all the confusion, it seemed as if their opposite sides had been forgotten. The compound soldiers looked to the truck's driver, who must've known what was going on. She shifted uncomfortably on her feet, but she was confident when she answered. It seemed as if some of the people here did know what was going on.

“They're for bargaining. Everyone in that truck,” the driver answered, “The councilwoman rounded up everyone from the compound who'd lived at Iwatobi before the outbreak and brought them back. She was gonna threaten Shigino with them, saying that Iwatobi belongs to these people, not him.”

“Iwatobi belongs to all of us,” Gou stated.

“That big wall says otherwise,” one soldier argued.

“We wouldn't have to build a wall if you weren't trying to kill us!” snapped Isuzu.

“Wait... they're trying to kill you? But the compound... they're good, aren't they? They're trying to make Japan safe again. That's what we've always been told,” said Ayumu, “Truthfully, I wasn't sure about coming back here if no one I remembered was left, but it was my home, so I wanted to. And now the two of you are here...”

“Not just the two of us – Haru, Makoto, Sousuke and Kisumi all survived as well,” said Gou, “But the compound... they haven't been honest with any of you, Ayumu.” She looked around the faces of all the old Iwatobi residents. They'd been kept sheltered from the world all this time, so there was no way that they could know; “...Many of us stayed here after the outbreak. We've made lives for ourselves here and now the compound are trying to take that away.”

“But you don't own Iwatobi!” called one of the soldier, “You live on stolen ground and then attack when the rightful owners try to claim it back.”

Isuzu snorted; “What? You think you can take this to court or something to figure out who owns what? Good luck with that!”

“Perhaps not, but some decision has to be made,” Gou said, looking around, “Now that these people are here, Iwatobi belongs to them as well. But it's the last safe place for the raiders.”

“Then what are we going to do? If anyone can figure this out, it's you, Gou. You're the smartest person I know,” said Isuzu, “Not in that weird scientist way like Hayato. Like... real smart. You listen to people and work out what to do.”

Honestly, Gou felt like she'd never be half as good at that as Makoto was, but hearing Isuzu say so was encouraging. She looked across at her partner – the proud rebel, then down at Ayumu – the innocent bystander, and then at all the soldiers – following orders to work towards their freedom. And finally across at the guards behind the wall – following orders to defend their freedom. Everyone wanted a happy ending here. Everyone wanted to feel safe.

And perhaps after spending so many years believing that the world wasn't safe for them, the biggest problem wasn't actually the zombies and keeping them under control. People had learned how to deal with zombies. Those from the compound could be taught how to boil water to fend off the infection or to aim for the head if a zombie did attack. The bigger problem was learning how to deal with each other.

Gou took off the hat from her stolen compound uniform, letting her hair blow free in the wind. She shook it out and then marched towards the wall, where the guards looked down. They recognised her – they would not shoot.

“Let us in. All of us. We have a lot to work out today.”

***

Sousuke wasn't sure who he was more impressed with – Makoto for bringing Christine here to show her the body of her dead son or Gou for bringing literally the entire opposing army into Iwatobi and having them follow along behind her. Eh, Gou's feat was bigger when you put it like that, but Sousuke couldn't help being biased in favour of Makoto.

“Not with her, but perhaps you can reason with us.”

It was Gou who had spoken. She was the leader now, it seemed. Of which side it wasn't certain, but everyone seemed to be following her. Perhaps Gou had made her own side and the sensible people were now part of it.

Christine didn't even get to her feet. She stayed crouched over her son's body, eyes narrowing at her own soldiers.

“Is this mutiny? Have you come to kill me...?” she asked.

“They just want a solution – We all do,” said Gou.

That was when Sousuke heard Makoto gasp. He looked across to see... huh, that small woman with Gou was once part of the Iwatobi Swim Club, wasn't she? But she wasn't dressed as a soldier. In fact, a few of the people Gou had brought with her looked like civilians, but they weren't part of the revolution. Who were they?

“It's Ayumu...” Makoto whispered to Sousuke, “And there's the old lady who owned the cat – I can't believe she made it. And that guy was a fisherman once and there's the man my parents used to talk to. These are all people from Iwatobi.” He spoke up now, addressing Gou; “Is that right? Are they here to come back?”

“They're here because the compound promised them Iwatobi,” confirmed Gou, “A bold claim when it's already occupied. But these people have a right to be here as well. That's why I want to work things out. And it looks like the compound is on my side about this. I can only hope that Ms. Whittle will be as well.”

She had so much power behind her, but when all of her people stopped standing with her... Christine Whittle was alone. And her son was dead. She had... nothing. Sousuke could almost feel sorry for her and he bet that Makoto definitely did feel sorry for her. Tactically speaking, it would be foolish for her to speak out against them now.

Christine knew that.

After taking one last look at her son, Christine got to her feet, dusted off her trousers and turned to address Gou as an equal.

“Let us talk. We have... a lot to discuss.”

Gou nodded; “I'm glad that you're willing to listen.”

“You know, I'd suggest bringing this into the revolution headquarters, but the school building seems pretty full right now and the people who are injured in there have to come first,” said Hayato, “So I guess this is as good a place as any to decide upon the terms of our futures.” With a flourish, he sat down amongst the fallen cherry blossoms and the grave stones, looking up at Christine; “But don't think I've forgotten that your guys were bombing this town an hour ago.”

“As I've not forgotten that my son is dead,” Christine replied.

“Both sides have suffered losses,” insisted Gou, “Our job is to make sure they don't suffer any more.”

Sousuke took Makoto's hand in his own and squeezed it. The two of them nodded to each other and took a seat on the ground, hand in hand. And then, slowly but surely, everyone around them began to sit down as well. The revolution, the compound and everyone else. On this yard, with their fallen families watching over them, they would shape the future.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the weeks that followed the attack on Iwatobi, everyone is preparing to welcome in a new era – Gou is actively working towards this, Hayato is sneaking away, and Sousuke... well, he just wants a quiet moment with Makoto.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final chapter of Late Super! This is the end of this fic and somewhat the end of the series. But there will be one final one-shot called “Mould” coming soon, which will act almost like an epilogue. More on that in the end notes.

The sight that greeted Gou when she looked into the mirror felt like a stranger, but then that had been true for many years. She'd had to grow up quickly in the wake of the outbreak and after so long, the raider Gou had started to feel like who she was, yet now she had become a different person once again. There had been no time to dress up smart while fighting for her life, but now that she not only had time, but an expectation upon her to look smart, it was something that she had to do.

She looked good, Gou decided. No matter how she felt about it, that was what was important. People would look at her and see someone who was in control of the situation and willing to do what was needed.

“You look amazing! That'll tell them you're ready for a fight,” Isuzu called, from where she'd appeared in the doorway.

“It's funny, since this is the worst I've ever been dressed for a fight,” said Gou.

Living as raiders, both Gou and Isuzu had endured many fights over the years, both with zombies and with people. But today was the start of a very different kind of fight. Neither the zombies nor people had gone, just that the way of handling them had changed. Gou had to see that as a good thing and keep pushing to help the raiders, no matter how nervous she felt.

Sensing that something was up, Isuzu came over and slapped Gou on the back.

“They're already mostly on your side, so you'll knock this outta the park,” she assured her.

“I'd like to think so. But the people who are on our side are all people we know. Of course the raiders would side with us and those compound soldiers who were there on the day have come around. Word is spreading across Japan, but Christine still has a whole compound full of people who just believe anything she says. And a network of world communications who think she has the cure,” said Gou, her fears feeling all the more real now that she'd voiced them.

Thankfully, Isuzu had enough optimism for both of them; “Christine would be an idiot to spread shit about you in the wake of bringing the compound lot back into Japan. She knows they'll find out the truth eventually. As for the rest of the world, well, Hayato's going with her, so it's not like she'll be able to claim she invented the cure while he's right there.”

“I think you're right... No, you _are_ right. I need to bury these nerves and get on with it.”

“Just for today. Once we get home, you can vent out all the nerves and anger at the system that you want to, okay?”

Isuzu punched the air for emphasis. Seeing her like this... No matter how much credit everyone was giving Gou for saving Iwatobi, she knew that she'd never have gotten so far without Isuzu.

“Thanks, I might just take you up on that offer,” Gou said.

“It's a date! So are you ready to go?”

One final glance in the mirror. Gou shifted a stray hair out of her face and nodded. She was as ready as she'd ever be.

“Let's get a move on.”

Waiting outside was... a lot of people. A lot of eyes all looking to her with hope and depending on Gou to carve their future. Amongst them, Gou saw Ayumu, prim and proper, dressed for a summer's day. It almost felt unreal to see someone who looked so untouched by the outbreak, but then Ayumu had been sheltered from it for all these years. Hopefully she'd missed out on the worst of it. Gou gave her a small wave, before she was caught up in the crowd, being led to the old Iwatobi High building to further discuss the terms of their truce.

From today, Gou Matsuoka would fix the world.

***

“...S-sooo noooissyyy...”

Kisumi laughed at hearing Haru grumble. For all they understood the importance of the gathering in Iwatobi, Haru's dislike of large groups was something that remained. Good thing they'd opted to stay home and out of sight.

There was a lot happening outside that went over the top of Kisumi's head, but he knew that it was important for their future. And in some cases, specifically _their_  future – since once again the compound's council might call the rights of Haru and Chiyo into question. At least this time they knew they had Iwatobi as a safe zone. No cure machines would ever be set up here. That had been a definite term already agreed upon between the raiders and the council.

“They'll be in the school soon and it'll get quiet for a while after that,” Kisumi assured him.

“...Theeen it'll... g-g-get noiiisy a-again... wh-when they l-l-leaaavee...” huffed Haru.

“Nothing we can do about that,” said Kisumi. He sat up from where he'd been resting against Chiyo and regarded Haru carefully; “Are you okay with all of this? Even if they do agree on terms, they can't stop using the cure machines completely until someone finds an actual cure for the zombie virus. You might end up trapped in Iwatobi until then. That isn't being free...”

In a swift movement, Haru was at his side. Haru had never been that fast on land before he'd been infected, but as a zombie, sometimes Kisumi forgot how quickly he could move. Letting his actions speak for him, Haru reached out one of his matted hands to stroke across Kisumi's face. Kisumi lent into the touch.

“...As l-looong as... y-you're here...”

“...w-w-wee caaan... be... f-f-freee...” Chiyo finished, his low voice sounding like a rumble next to Haru's.

Kisumi blushed and glanced away; “You guys are too much! How did I get so lucky?”

“...Byyy b-beeing... Kisuuumiii...” answered Haru.

Before Kisumi could get any more flustered by that, there was a knock on the door. Kisumi had to properly untangle himself from the pile of zombies now. He got to his feet and nodded to them both.

“I'll only be a minute. Hopefully they won't be asking us to testify.”

“...H-hoope...fullyyy...”

With that, Kisumi headed to the door and opened it to see... Hayato, standing there looking sheepish. Kisumi folded his arms, smiling across at his little brother.

“This is new, you coming to check up on me instead of the other way around,” said Kisumi, “I thought you'd be heading to that meeting.”

Hayato didn't meet his eyes; “Now that Gou's in charge there isn't as much reason for me to be there. Besides, I'm heading out today, so the revolution are going to have to learn to manage without me.”

“You're leaving now? I thought that wouldn't be until later,” Kisumi gasped.

“Christine wanted to avoid making a scene, so I'm slipping away during the meeting. Daichi's coming with me, of course. I told him that he didn't have to, but he just gave me that look and told me there was no way he'd miss out on whatever I'll do next.”

“And what is it you're doing next?”

“...Working on a solution to whatever's poisoned the water sources. I'm still a zombie scientist, apparently.”

Kisumi shook his head; “Hayato... at least look me in the eyes when you're lying to me.”

That made Hayato blink in surprise. But Kisumi knew his tell-tale signs very well. Lately Hayato had gotten better at hiding his nervous fidgeting, but he couldn't get rid of it completely. As Kisumi watched, Hayato took a deep breath, steadied himself and looked directly at Kisumi.

“I've been asked to do something pretty awful that I'd rather not discuss. But I promise you that it's on a small scale and won't ever harm anyone, especially not anyone here. Councilwoman Whittle has given me her word that you'll all be safe,” he said.

“And that's as much as you're going to tell me?”

“Unfortunately, it is.”

Kisumi unfolded his arms. He pressed forward, pulling his brother into a tight hug. They were both lithe and somewhat frail people when you got down to it. Neither of them had much force behind them. But when Hayato returned the hug, it was the strongest feeling in the world to Kisumi.

“Just please... come back home for the wedding,” he said, “You owe that much to Daichi.”

“I owe a lot to Daichi. Besides, I know how much you love weddings. Wouldn't let you miss out on one,” said Hayato, “Hopefully you'll get to go to more now that the world's been saved and all.”

Kisumi snorted as the two of them broke away from the hug.

“I'll make do with being a guest. Don't think society will let me marry two zombies, no matter how much the rights discussions swing in their favour. But I'm happy... We're happy. And that's what matters.”

“That's what matters to me,” Hayato agreed, “Stay happy, Kisumi. If I can give you anything, then I want it to be that.”

“In that case, you need to stay safe. I can't be happy without my brother. So keep that in mind when you run into reckless situations,” Kisumi replied, sounding stern beneath the cheery tone.

Hayato nodded and took a step back; “I will... So, this is goodbye?”

“This is see you later. Because you'll come home one day,” said Kisumi.

“See you later then, Kisumi.”

With that, Hayato turned and walked away. The streets much quieter now that most people were packed into the school building – the perfect time for Hayato to make his exit. Kisumi watched him go until he was out of sight, then he headed back inside to be with the partners who he loved.

***

The afternoon was peaceful and even if that peace wouldn't last forever, it would last for now. And now was the most important time of all. It was impossible to count on tomorrows and meaningless to get lost in yesterdays, so focusing on this nice moment they were spending together, sitting amongst the petals from the cherry blossom tree and feeling the light breeze on their backs, was truly what mattered most.

...Shit, when had Sousuke become so philosophical? He really was going soft in his old age. Ugh.

He turned to look at Makoto, who'd been looking at Rei and Nagisa's graves for the last few minutes. Now that they were allowed to rest, Makoto seemed older than he ever had. Even his hair was finally giving way to the grey, although the process was much more graceful than Sousuke's descent into slat 'n' pepper hair had been. The shoulder injury had aged Makoto as well – something that Sousuke could relate to. Makoto's arm was set into a clean bandage now and it was improving, but would never be the same again.

Yet behind those green eyes was the same sparkle that had always been there. When it got down to what was important, Makoto would never change.

“I can see you looking,” Makoto hummed, glancing away from the gravestones and towards Sousuke. His lips curled into a smile; “You of all people should know better than to get caught staring at someone's shoulder.”

“Can't I just stare at the guy I love?” Sousuke grumbled.

He shuffled closer to Makoto, putting an arm around him and resting his head on his shoulder. He waited quietly, giving Makoto a chance to say what was on his mind.

“Sousuke... I won't be able to defend myself like this. From the way Gou's been talking, I might not need to, but there's still a chance that...”

“...The world might go to shit?” Sousuke finished.

“Yeah. Yeah, that's it,” said Makoto, “We've had so many times when we thought we'd made it to safety, even lived safely for a while, only for the rug to be yanked out from under us. What's to say that this time will be any different?”

“Honestly, nothing for definite. But that'd be true no matter what,” said Sousuke, “There's no easy way out. Zombies are still a problem and snotty councils hidden away are a bigger problem. But at least we've got Gou on our side as well. And Hayato, I guess. The difference now is that people know our story – word has got around. Christine or whoever else can't take that away from us, so hopefully they'll be wiser than to attack us now.”

Makoto turned his head to look at Sousuke properly, as if trying to understand something that was lost on him.

“This is the calmest I've ever seen you,” Makoto admitted, “Usually you'll be the one watching over our shoulders and trying to figure out every way that something could go wrong.”

“Would you rather I go back to that?” Sousuke asked. Because he could do very easily, if that was what Makoto wanted.

“No, I'm just glad to see you relaxed. Coming back here was the best choice we ever made...”

“It was our only choice. But yeah, I think so, too.”

He looked back out across the... well, it was time to call it a graveyard. They couldn't avoid that forever. Behind them, in the school, people were discussing their future as a society. But right here, those who they'd love had finally been laid to rest for real. Sousuke could never truly know what Rin would've wanted – or what his mother would've wanted or any of the others who were buried here or anywhere else – but closing this chapter on them had allowed those who were still alive to find peace. And sometimes you had to accept that was more important.

“This didn't go how I expected it, you know,” he admitted, “I thought there'd be a big battle and we'd go out in a blaze of glory. But in the end we all... just talked. And we're still talking. There was no big fight for freedom in the end.”

Makoto reached across with his good arm, putting his hand on top of Sousuke's and smiling; “I'm glad you didn't go out in a blaze of glory. It'd be lonely without you...”

“You don't need to worry. Apparently I'm too stubborn to die. That's what the raiders keep saying,” Sousuke grumbled.

“I know, I hear them. But since you brought it up... what would you have said?” asked Makoto.

“What do you mean?”

Makoto took hold of Sousuke and (with surprising strength, considering his condition) pulled him onto his lap. When Sousuke was lying there, staring up at him, Makoto reached down to stroke his face.

“Pretend that you've been mortally wounded and I'm holding you in my arms as you bleed out, sobbing like you've never seen me sob before,” said Makoto, far too cheerfully, “What would you have said to me?”

“Fuck. Way to put me on the spot, Makoto,” said Sousuke. He looked up at those bright eyes and felt his heart race. It took him a moment to find his words; “...I'd tell you that I wanted to be with you forever. That I would do anything to keep you safe. But that you damn well better not die to be with me, because that would make me pissed. You need to live your life to the fullest, Makoto Tachibana.”

“...But I'd rather do that with you,” said Makoto.

“Good thing I'm not actually dying then,” Sousuke replied, pulling himself up from Makoto's lap.

“Sounds like your dying words would've been to wish for what we've got now. So that means this has worked out,” Makoto said.

“Almost. There is... one other thing.”

“Oh?”

Now that he was put on the spot, Sousuke didn't know how to put it into words. He took one glance at Rin's grave for confidence, because he knew that Rin would've been pushing him to just get on with this.

“Look... I'll admit I never thought about this before, because I just didn't think we lived in a world where it was possible. Then we came to Iwatobi and found out that Hayato and Daichi were doing it, even though they were only just kids at the start of the outbreak and probably only know about these customs from what they've been told. It made me think that if they can do it, then we can do it too, you know?”

Makoto smirked, knowing exactly what Sousuke meant, but acting like he didn't; “You want to start a revolution?”

“What? Nooo! I want to... I want to marry you, Makoto. Shit, that sounds too forceful. What I mean is... would you, uh, would you want... to marry me?” Sousuke stammered.

He only realised after he'd said it that he'd forgot the damn ring. So he quickly pulled his hand into his pocket and pulled it out. The ring wasn't in a box, so he held it in the palm of his hand for Makoto to see.

“This was your mother's ring... I remember seeing her wear it,” Makoto whispered.

“It's what she would've wanted. That much I can say for sure,” said Sousuke, “She adored you. She already saw you as a son.”

“I...”

Sousuke held his breath, watching as Makoto reached forward to take the ring, daintily slipping it onto his finger.

“...I always told myself that we don't need to get married to be happy. I still believe that. But if we can get married, then I want it to be with you, Sousuke Yamazaki.”

That was everything that Sousuke wanted to hear. He dived forward, almost knocking Makoto off his feet with the impact. Then he pulled him up onto his feet and spun him around until they were both giddy, not caring if anyone saw. He was going to marry Makoto. What else mattered compared to that?

“Thank you... Thank you so much,” Sousuke gasped, once he'd gotten too tired to keep spinning.

Makoto's laughter echoed on the wind, the tears in his eyes happy ones. The same could be said for Sousuke.

“Let's give them all something to look forward to,” said Makoto.

After a lifetime of struggling, trailing from one temporary solution to the next, Sousuke couldn't help but agree. This was not the end, because the two of them would go on to live and witness the world change once again in the wake of the cure. But for Sousuke and Makoto, living together here, surrounded by all their loved ones who'd survived through it all – this was the happiest ending that they could ask for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, Sousuke and Makoto have finally found their happy ending. After going on this long journey with them, I couldn't be happier and I hope that anyone who's read this series all the way through feels the same way. It's been a joy writing this whole series, which was my first step into both the zombie genre and into SouMako. With such a welcoming community, I'm sure that I'll be writing SouMako again in future, you don't need to worry about that.
> 
> So you're probably wondering about that epilogue.
> 
> The “Mould” one-shot is a fic that I've been planning for a long time as part of this series and only recently decided to make it an epilogue. It will be purely about Hayato, giving a look into what he does next, as well as an insight into his past. There was a lot happening with Hayato that I just couldn't fit into the main story, because some of it would've been too spoilery at the time. So the best way was to give him his own one-shot, where I could include everything without worrying about taking the focus away from the others. Hayato has grown to mean a lot to me during this fic and I honestly hope I can write more fics in future featuring an older Hayato with this same personality – along with Ren, Ran and Daichi for him to ruin the lives of (also, you can bet there'd be some love triangles between Hayato, Ren and Daichi). If that sounds like something you might be interested in, please let me know, as I have a lot of plans in that area.
> 
> But Hayato aside, for Sousuke, Makoto, Kisumi, Gou and the others, this is the end of the story. Which is another reason I wanted Mould to be uploaded as its own thing instead of as a direct epilogue attached to Late Supper. If you're not fussed about Hayato, then Late Supper is the end of the series and I thank you so much for sticking with me through all of this. I appreciate everyone who gave this series a chance, whether they read every single fic, just the main ones or even just the first story in the series. It's my longest and most successful series, which has helped me grow as a writer and become more confident with trying new things.
> 
> Thank you so much for everything, SouMako fandom. Here's to many more in future.


End file.
